Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says move is response to university’s refusal to comply with Trump demands.

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to the university’s administration, Noem said the university’s Student Exchange Visitor Program certification has been revoked.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 Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, 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.

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. Harvard is currently pursuing a lawsuit accusing the administration of defying the US constitution in its actions.

More to come…