Washington:
US President Donald Trump defended his administration’s move to block Harvard University’s ability to enrol international students after a judge suspended the action. Taking to his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump claimed almost 31 per cent of students studying at Harvard are from foreign countries–some of which are not in friendly terms with the US– and the university administration is not forthcoming with details on these students despite repeated requests from his administration.
“Why isn’t Harvard saying that almost 31% of their students are from FOREIGN LANDS, and yet those countries, some not at all friendly to the United States, pay NOTHING toward their student’s education, nor do they ever intend to. Nobody told us that,” Trump posted.
“We want to know who those foreign students are, a reasonable request since we give Harvard BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, but Harvard isn’t exactly forthcoming. We want those names and countries. Harvard has $52,000,000, use it, and stop asking for the Federal Government to continue GRANTING money to you,” he added.
The remarks came after a federal judge on Friday temporarily restrained the Trump administration’s move to block foreign students at Harvard, a policy imposed on the elite institution the day before that threw the future of thousands of students and the lucrative income stream they provide into doubt.
The Thursday order passed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also forced current foreign students to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status, while threatening to expand the crackdown to other colleges. Noem accused the university of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.”
Harvard said the move by the Trump administration, which affects thousands of students, was illegal and amounted to retaliation and sued the Trump administration to “stop the government’s arbitrary, capricious, unlawful, and unconstitutional action.”
Trump’s Crackdown On Universities
The Trump administration’s decision marked a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign against the elite Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has emerged as one of Trump’s most prominent institutional targets.
Trump, a Republican, took office in January, pledging a wide-ranging immigration crackdown. His administration has tried to revoke student visas and green cards of foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests. He has undertaken an extraordinary effort to revamp private colleges and schools across the US, claiming they foster anti-American, Marxist and “radical left” ideologies. He has criticised Harvard for hiring prominent Democrats for teaching or leadership positions.
At Harvard, the government has threatened to put $9 billion of funding under review, then went on to freeze a first tranche of $2.2 billion of grants and $60 million of official contracts. It has also targeted a Harvard Medical School researcher for deportation.
Foreign Students At Harvard
Harvard is the wealthiest US university with an endowment valued at $53.2 billion in 2024. It enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in the 2024-2025 school year, amounting to 27 per cent of its total enrollment, according to university statistics
In 2022, Chinese nationals were the biggest group of foreign students at 1,016, university figures showed. After that were students from Canada, India, South Korea, Britain, Germany, Australia, Singapore and Japan.
The loss of foreign nationals — more than a quarter of its student body — could prove costly to Harvard, which charges tens of thousands of dollars a year in tuition.