Donald Trump defends attempt to ban Harvard from accepting international students

US President says government needs to know more about who they are where they are from

US President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday revoked Harvard's right to enrol foreign students. AFP

US President Donald Trump has defended his move to block foreign students from studying at Harvard after a judge suspended the action.

In a post on his Truth Social network on Sunday, Mr Trump suggested that Harvard is not open about how many of its students come from overseas, including many from “not at all friendly” nations.

“Why isn't Harvard saying that almost 31 per cent of their students are from foreign lands, and yet those countries, some not at all friendly to the United States, pay nothing towards the student's education, nor do they ever intend to," he wrote.

“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."

US President Donald Trump posted this message on Truth Social on May 25, 2025

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last week revoked Harvard's ability to enrol foreign nationals, throwing the future of thousands of students and the lucrative income they provide into doubt.

Ms Noem had threatened to block international students at the college unless it turned over records on visa holders' “illegal and violent activities".

But a judge suspended the move after the university sued to “stop the government's arbitrary, capricious, unlawful and unconstitutional action.”

Mr Trump is furious with Harvard – which has produced 162 Nobel Prize winners – for rejecting his demand that it submit to oversight on admissions and hiring, over his claims that it is a hotbed of anti-Semitism and “woke” liberal ideology.

More than a quarter of Harvard's student body comes from overseas. Their absence would affect Harvard, where it can cost nearly $100,000 a year to study.

Harvard is the wealthiest US university, with an endowment valued at $53.2 billion in 2024.

The Trump administration has also moved to revoke visas and deport foreign students involved in protests against the war in Gaza, accusing them of supporting the Palestinian militant group, Hamas.

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 marked a Harvard Medical School researcher for deportation.