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President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday barring most foreign students from enrolling at Harvard University, escalating a growing standoff between the White House and the Ivy League college.
The order, which takes immediate effect, claims that allowing international students to attend Harvard poses a threat to national security. Foreign nationals intending to study or conduct research at the university’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus will now be denied entry to the United States under the directive.
“I have determined that the entry of the class of foreign nationals described above is detrimental to the interests of the United States because, in my judgment, Harvard’s conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers,” Trump wrote in the order.
“Until such time as the university shares the information that the Federal Government requires to safeguard national security and the American public, it is in the national interest to deny foreign nationals access to Harvard under the auspices of educational exchange,” the order also stated.
The decision follows a federal court ruling last week in Boston that blocked the Department of Homeland Security from expelling Harvard’s current international students. Trump’s order, however, relies on a separate legal authority under immigration and national security law.
At the center of the dispute is Harvard’s alleged refusal to comply fully with federal demands for records related to misconduct involving international students. The Department of Homeland Security accused the university of withholding critical information requested in an ongoing investigation.
Harvard officials said they had responded to the government’s inquiries and maintained that they were in compliance with federal law. But the administration characterized the university’s cooperation as inadequate.
The move is expected to have a significant impact on Harvard’s student population, which includes thousands of international students who make up about one-fourth of its enrollment.
“Admission to the United States to study at an ‘elite’ American university is a privilege, not a right,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X. “This Department of Justice will vigorously defend the President’s proclamation suspending the entry of new foreign students at Harvard University based on national security concerns.”
