The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is eliminating the student visa program at Harvard University due to "pro-terrorist conduct" at campus protests, Fox News Digital has learned.
It's a severe consequence for what DHS claims is Harvard's refusal to comply with its requests for behavioral records of student visa holders.
"This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus," said 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."
Harvard may no longer enroll foreign students in the 2025-2026 school year, and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status to reside in the U.S. before the next academic year begins.
"As a result of your brazen 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 rhetoric, and employs racist 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' policies, you have lost this privilege," Noem wrote in a letter to Maureen Martin, the university's director of immigration services.
Noem offered Harvard 72 hours to provide the information requested for an opportunity to regain its visa program for the next school year.
She called the move the "direct result of Harvard's epic failure to comply with simple reporting requirements."
The records requested include any footage of protest activity involving students on visas and the disciplinary records of all students on visas in the last five years.
Noem said last month she had requested records related to visa-holding students enrolled in the university and Harvard's counsel did not provide adequate information to meet the demand. After the DHS general counsel asked again for the information, Harvard provided an "insufficient, incomplete and unacceptable response," she said.
"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 antisemitism in society and campuses.
Requested records also include footage or documentation of illegal, dangerous or violent activity by student visa holders, any records of threats or the deprivation of rights of other students or university personnel.
Harvard could not immediately be reached for comment.
Trump is also working to stop illegal aliens from "hijacking" our elections by voting illegally.
The Trump administration is unrolling a new initiative Thursday that will help prevent noncitizens from voting in U.S. elections, a high-priority policy for the White House.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program and partnering with the Social Security Administration in order to ensure "a single, reliable source for verifying immigration status and U.S. citizenship," according to a memo exclusively shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. Under the update, state and local officials will be able to input Social Security numbers for verification of U.S. citizenship and thereby prevent foreign nationals from voting in American elections.
"For years, states have pleaded for tools to help identify and stop aliens from hijacking our elections," USCIS Spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in a statement provided to the DCNF.
"Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, USCIS is moving quickly to eliminate voter fraud," Tragesser continued. "We expect further improvements soon and remain committed to restoring trust in American elections."
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SAVE, an online service administered by USCIS, allows various government agencies to verify the immigration status or U.S. naturalization of applicants seeking benefits or licenses.
The new partnership allows government agencies to create cases in SAVE using an applicant's Social Security number rather than a Department of Homeland Security identifying number, which is not collected by a majority of state and local agencies, according to a separate news release. Additionally, agencies for the first time will be able to submit more than one case at a time, streamlining the process.
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Polling indicates that basic voter protection regulations, such as requiring a photo ID to vote and providing proof of citizenship when registering to vote for the first time, are incredibly popular among Americans.
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State officials in Texas, Alabama, Virginia and Ohio identified as many as 17,000 noncitizens on state voting rolls and worked to remove them from the books ahead of the 2024 general election. America First Legal, a Washington, D.C.-based group aligned with the Trump administration, sued Maricopa County, Arizona, in August after the county recorder allegedly failed to purge 35,000 registered voters who did not provide proof of U.S. citizenship.
The Trump administration hinted at more updates to come in the future.