RUTHFULLY YOURS

According to Grok, roughly 27% of Harvard’s student body—or around 6,800 students—consists of people from overseas. Given that they pay full fare (no federal student loans, grants, or scholarships for them), that works out to around $400 million in tuition revenue annually (6,800 x $57,000). Grok also estimates that, of those 6,800 foreign students, roughly 15% come from China.

You can see, then, how important those foreign students are to Harvard. And that’s why it was such a devastating blow when, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem wrote to Harvard this afternoon informing it that, because it refused to abide by its Civil Rights obligations, despite two warnings, the United States government was revoking its privilege (not its right, but its privilege) to host foreign students and workers:

Here’s the letter’s text, in case you can’t get the attachment to open:

I am writing to inform you that effective immediately, Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked.

As I explained to you in my April letter, it is a privilege to enroll foreign students, and it is also a privilege to employ aliens on campus. All universities must comply with Department of Homeland Security requirements, including reporting requirements under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program regulations, to maintain this privilege. As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies, you have lost this privilege.

The revocation of your Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification means that Harvard is prohibited from having any aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status for the 2025-2026 academic school year. This decertification also means that existing aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status must transfer to another university in order to maintain their nonimmigrant status.

This action should not surprise you and is the unfortunate result of Harvard’s failure to comply with simple reporting requirements.

On April 16, 2025, I requested records pertaining to nonimmigrant students enrolled at Harvard University, including information regarding misconduct and other offenses that would render foreign students inadmissible or removable. On April 30, 2025, Harvard’s counsel provided information that he represented as responsive to my request. It was not.

As a courtesy that Harvard was not legally entitled to, the Acting DHS General Counsel responded on my behalf and afforded Harvard another opportunity to comply. Harvard again provided an insufficient response.

 

Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that want to enjoy the privilege of enrolling foreign students, that the Trump Administration will enforce the law and root out the evils of anti-Americanism and antisemitism in society and campuses.

If Harvard would like the opportunity of regaining Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification before the upcoming academic school year, you must provide all of the information requested below within 72 hours.

 

 

Please be advised that providing materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent information may subject you to criminal prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 1001. Other criminal and civil sanctions may also apply.

I expect full and complete responses to the following requests:

1. Any and all records, whether official or informal, in the possession of Harvard University, including electronic records and audio or video footage, regarding illegal activity whether on or off campus, by a nonimmigrant student enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.

2. Any and all records, whether official or informal, in the possession of Harvard University, including electronic records and audio or video footage, regarding dangerous or violent activity whether on or off campus, by a nonimmigrant student enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.

3. Any and all records, whether official or informal, in the possession of Harvard University, including electronic records and audio or video footage, regarding threats to other students or university personnel whether on or off campus, by a nonimmigrant student enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.

4. Any and all records, whether official or informal, in the possession of Harvard University, including electronic records and audio or video footage, regarding deprivation of rights of other classmates or university personnel whether on or off campus, by a nonimmigrant student enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.

5. Any and all disciplinary records of all nonimmigrant students enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.

6. Any and all audio or video footage, in the possession of Harvard University, of any protest activity involving a nonimmigrant student on a Harvard University campus in the last five years.

In brief, Harvard had two opportunities to comply with requests for information proving that it was complying with the law regarding foreign students and regarding preventing antisemitic attacks on its campuses (many of which have proven to have been tied to foreign students). Over a month ago, DHS informed Harvard that failing to comply would put at risk its ability to host foreign students. Harvard refused to comply with its reporting obligations and paid the price.

I’m very sorry for the foreign students, who are having their plans upended. That’s not easy, and I’m sure that for many of them, it’s a deeply disappointing interruption to their dreams—kind of like the interruption that occurred when America went insane over COVID. In other words, sometimes young people’s dreams are interrupted because larger events or principles take precedence over them. Because leftists were on board with COVID’s ability to remove Trump from the White House, they didn’t complain about any of those dashed dreams.

The one good thing for those students is that it is very likely that they’re not missing out on anything of real value. And at least for American students, the reality is that most jobs do not have a compelling reason for requiring degrees in the first place. Indeed, the emphasis on credentialism is bad for innovation and opportunity.

In this case, though, the principle is one offensive to leftists; namely, is that Harvard doesn’t get to make the rules for itself. It must operate under color of the law—and the law says that it cannot create a hostile environment for students based upon their race and/or religion, and that it cannot protect foreign students who have violated the terms of their visas by breaking general American laws or laws applicable specifically to foreign students.

What Noem did is the right thing to do. The big question now is how long it’ll be before Harvard finds a politicized judge who will say and do anything to thwart the Trump agenda.

At a certain point, President Trump must have a reckoning with the unelected federal judges who are straying far beyond their constitutional “cases and controversies” purview to take control of the entire federal government.