The Department of Homeland Security recently revoked Harvard’s ability to admit foreign students.
President Donald Trump suggested transferring federal grants from Harvard University to fund trade schools in a May 26 post on social media platform Truth Social.
“I am considering taking Three Billion Dollars of Grant Money away from a very antisemitic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land,” Trump
wrote. “What a great investment that would be for the USA, and so badly needed!!!”
The federal government has already
canceled almost $3 billion in grants to the university.
This includes $2.2 billion in federal grants canceled in April after the government accused Harvard of failing to combat anti-Semitism on its campus. On May 13, $450 million in grants were canceled by eight federal agencies. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services said it was
terminating $60 million in grants to the university.
Trump’s statement on transferring Harvard funds comes amid a spat between the administration and the university over the issue of foreign students at the institution.
On May 22, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
revoked the certification of Harvard University’s foreign student admissions program, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).
“Harvard’s leadership has 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 these agitators are foreign students,” DHS said in a May 22
statement.
“On April 16, 2025, [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] 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.”
Harvard “brazenly refused” to provide the requested information, thus leading to the government canceling foreign admissions at the university, DHS stated.
The institution
filed a lawsuit on May 23, alleging that the Trump administration was seeking to control the university’s policies.
“With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission,” the
lawsuit stated.
“This revocation is a blatant violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act. It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”
On May 23, a federal judge issued an injunction blocking the DHS directive.
Harvard enrolls almost 6,800 international students—who come from more than 100 countries—at its Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus.
In a May 26 Truth Social
post, Trump said his administration was still waiting for the foreign student lists from Harvard so that it “can determine, after a ridiculous expenditure of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, how many radicalized lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our Country.”
“Harvard is very slow in the presentation of these documents, and probably for good reason!“ he wrote. ”The best thing Harvard has going for it is that they have shopped around and found the absolute best Judge (for them!) - But have no fear, the Government will, in the end, WIN!”
Discrimination on Campus
The Trump administration’s actions against Harvard are part of a wider crackdown against diversity, equity, and inclusion policies; anti-Semitism; and foreign influence in the U.S. education system.Last week, the DHS Office for Civil Rights
accused Columbia University of violating federal civil rights laws by failing to protect Jewish students from being harassed.
The university showed “deliberate indifference” when Jewish students were subjected to harassment by other students following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack and subsequent Israeli military action against Gaza, it stated.
Anthony Archeval, the office’s acting director, called on Columbia to “work with us to come to an agreement that reflects meaningful changes that will truly protect Jewish students.”
A Columbia spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that the university takes anti-Semitism issues seriously and has been working with the government to address these issues.
“We understand this finding is part of our ongoing discussions with the government,” the spokesperson said. “Columbia is deeply committed to combatting anti-Semitism and all forms of harassment and discrimination on our campus.”
On May 8, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights
initiated a Title IX investigation into Western Carolina University following allegations that the institution refused to ensure sex-separated intimate spaces on its campus.
The same day, the department announced that it has opened an
investigation into the University of Pennsylvania after finding that its foreign financial disclosures were “inaccurate and untimely.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Harvard for comment on Trump’s latest post but did not receive a reply by publication time.
Aldgra Fredly contributed to the report.
