The United States has revoked Harvard's qualification to admit international students and forced existing international students to transfer

The Trump administration of the United States announced the cancellation of Harvard University's eligibility to admit international students and forced existing international students at Harvard to transfer, otherwise they would lose their legal status. It even threatened to expand this action to other universities. Harvard University claimed that the government's actions were illegal and promised to support foreign students.

According to reports from Reuters and Bloomberg, the US Department of Homeland Security issued a statement on Thursday (May 22) saying that Homeland Security Secretary Noam ordered the termination of Harvard's "Student and Exchange Visitor Program" certification, accusing Harvard of "promoting violence, anti-Semitism and cooperating with the Communist Party of China".

The statement said, "The management of Harvard University allowed anti-American and pro-terrorism agitators to harass and physically attack individuals, including many Jewish students, undermining the once highly respected academic environment of Harvard and creating an unsafe campus atmosphere."

Noam said in a statement, "It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to recruit foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition fees to enrich their multi-billion-dollar endowment funds."

Harvard issued a statement saying, "The government's move is illegal." Such retaliatory actions could cause serious damage to the Harvard community and our country, and undermine Harvard's academic and research mission.

Harvard has stated that it is fully committed to educating international students and is making efforts to provide assistance to those affected.

When interviewed by the Fox News program, Noam was asked whether she was considering taking measures similar to Harvard's at other universities, including Columbia University in New York. She said, "Sure, this is a warning to other universities, reminding all universities to act on their own."

According to statistics from Harvard University, in the 2024-2025 academic year, Harvard will admit nearly 6,800 international students, accounting for approximately 27% of the total student population. International students accounted for 19.7% of the total student population at Harvard in the 2010-11 academic year.

In 2022, Chinese students were the largest group of international students at Harvard, with a total of 1,016 students. Other international students come from countries such as Canada, India, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Singapore and Japan.

In another lawsuit related to Trump's attempt to terminate the legal status of hundreds of foreign students in the United States, a federal judge in California issued a nationwide order prohibiting the Trump administration from revoking the legal status of foreign students.

In a ruling on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of Oakland said that the government cannot revoke the legal status of international students without conducting individual reviews and without adhering to the standards listed by federal regulations.

It is still unclear how the ruling of the California judge will affect the measures against Harvard University.