President Donald Trump posted a late-night rant on Truth Social, demanding that Harvard University provide his administration with the “names and countries” of all its international students.
There would be nearly 6,793 names on that list, according to the latest data shared by the university.
“Why isn’t Harvard saying that almost 31% of their students are from FOREIGN LANDS, and yet those countries, some not at all friendly to the United States, pay NOTHING toward their student’s education, nor do they ever intend to,” Trump wrote at 12:51 a.m. on Sunday. “Nobody told us that!”
“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,” he continued. “We want those names and countries.”
Trump tried to block Harvard from enrolling foreign students on Thursday, in the latest escalation of his war on U.S. colleges. His administration also wants all foreign students to leave the university, or else risk losing their legal status.
The administration had previously warned that the school’s federal funding was at risk if leaders didn’t comply with Trump’s demands, which included ending diversity programs, dissolving pro-Palestine demonstrations and submitting a “viewpoint diversity” audit.
But U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs called the order a “blatant violation of the Constitution” on Friday, granting Harvard a temporary restraining order against the administration. Burroughs said Harvard’s attorneys have shown that the move would do “immediate and irreparable injury” to the institution.
Earlier this week, a federal judge also blocked the Trump administration from revoking legal status for international students nationwide while a legal challenge is ongoing.
Harvard professors and staff have shown an outpouring of support for their international students, and the school’s administration says it’s committed to ensuring the students can stay.
“We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard’s ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the university — and this nation — immeasurably,” Harvard’s media relations director Jason Newton said Friday.
“We are working quickly to provide guidance and support to members of our community,” he added. “This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security claims Harvard 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.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has similarly accused the university of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.”
