Trump defends ban on Harvard accepting foreign students, demands transparency
The US president said the university was not forthcoming on his administration’s ‘reasonable request’ to know who those foreign students are
US President Donald Trump defended on Sunday his administration’s move to block foreign students at Harvard after a judge suspended the action, described by the top university as unlawful.
“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 toward their student’s education, nor do they ever intend to,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
“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.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday revoked Harvard’s ability to enrol foreign nationals, throwing the future of thousands of students and the lucrative income stream they provide into doubt.
She had threatened last month to block international students at the school unless it turned over records on visa holders’ “illegal and violent activities”.
But a judge quickly suspended the move after the university sued to “stop the government’s arbitrary, capricious, unlawful, and unconstitutional action”.