The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday officially revoked Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, meaning Harvard can no longer enroll international students and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem broke the news to Harvard’s Director of Immigration Services, Maureen Martin, in a letter stating that “it is a privilege to enroll foreign students.”
“As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests from DHS to provide pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and promotes racist ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies,’ you have lost that privilege,” Noem wrote.
In a press release, DHS maintained that the university had “created an unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students, and otherwise obstruct its once-venerable learning environment.”
Many of those violent offenders are foreign students, according to DHS.
Earlier this month, a joint-government task force found that Harvard had failed to confront the racial discrimination and anti-Semitic harassment plaguing its campus. Jewish students on campus were subjected to “pervasive insults, physical assault, and intimidation, with no meaningful response from Harvard’s leadership,” the report stated. In one egregious case, an agitator who “was charged for his role in the assault of a Jewish student on campus was chosen by the Harvard Divinity School to be the Class Marshal for commencement.”
“Meanwhile, Pro-Hamas student groups that promoted antisemitism after the October 7 attacks remained recognized and funded,” DHS noted.
Harvard conducted its own internal study on anti-Semitism earlier this year and found that almost 60 percent of Jewish students reported experiencing “discrimination, stereotyping, or negative bias on campus due to [their] views on current events.”
Harvard’s leadership meanwhile has “facilitated, and engaged in coordinated activity” with the Communist Chinese Party, “including hosting and training members of a CCP paramilitary group complicit in the Uyghur genocide,” DHS stated.
“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments. Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused. They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law. Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”
On April 16, 2025, Secretary Noem demanded Harvard provide information about the criminality and misconduct of foreign students on its campus. Secretary Noem warned refusal to comply with this lawful order would result in SEVP termination.
This action comes after DHS terminated $2.7 million in DHS grants for Harvard last month.
Harvard University brazenly refused to provide the required information requested and ignored a follow up request from the Department’s Office of General Council. Secretary Noem is following through on her promise to protect students and prohibit terrorist sympathizers from receiving benefits from the U.S. government.
According to DHS, Harvard has prioritized racist DEI practices over protecting its students, resulting in skyrocketing crime rates.
“Crime rates at Harvard increased by 55 percent from 2022 to 2023,” DHS noted. “From 2022 to 2023 aggravated assaults increased 295 percent and robberies increased 560 percent.
Disturbingly, the university has also been accepting “boatloads of cash from foreign governments and donors,” according to the Department.
Harvard Received $151 Million From Foreign Governments Since January 2020 — making up more than 13 percent of the total $1.1 billion received from foreign donors over the same period.
Harvard hosted and trained members of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a CCP paramilitary group complicit in the Uyghur genocide, even after its 2020 designation on the U.S. Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals List, with engagements continuing as recently as 2024.
Harvard researchers collaborated with China-based academics on projects funded by an Iranian government agent and partnered with Chinese universities tied to military advancements, including aerospace and optics research, using U.S. Department of Defense funds.
Harvard partnered with individuals linked to China’s defense-industrial base, including conducting robotics research with military application
“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus. It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments,” Noem said in a statement Thursday. “Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused. They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law. Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”
