US President Donald Trump’s administration has blocked Harvard University’s ability to enrol international students, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

In a post on X on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Trump administration was “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 enrol foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments,” she said. “Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused.”

In a letter to the university’s administration, Noem said the university’s Student Exchange Visitor Program certification has been revoked. The programme is overseen by the US Homeland Security Investigations unit, which falls under the agency Noem leads.

The move means that not only will Harvard not be able to accept foreign students on its campus, but current students will need to “transfer to another university in order to maintain their non-immigrant status”, the letter said.

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Harvard did not immediately respond to the move, which was first reported by the New York Times.

The action represents an escalation amid a wider standoff between the university, which has refused to agree to a list of demands related to its diversity programmes and response to pro-Palestine protests, and the Trump administration.

The administration has responded with three rounds of federal funding and grants cuts, totalling over $2.6 billion. The most recent was on Monday. Harvard is currently pursuing a lawsuit accusing the administration of defying the US constitution in its actions.

Earlier this week, Harvard President Alan Garber called on alumni to throw their support – and donations – behind the university.

“The institution entrusted to us now faces challenges unlike any others in our long history,” Garber wrote in an email, in which he launched the presidential Priorities Fund and the Presidential Fund for Research.

Both funds are meant to address gaps left by the funding cuts.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Student Exchange Visitor Program certification is required by educational institutions to host students on several visa types, including those pursuing academics or vocational training in the US.

There were 7,417 total schools approved for the programme in the US in 2023, according to federal data.

It was not immediately clear if there is any recourse to challenge the loss of certification. The agency maintains that under federal law it can review approved schools at any time.

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