Harvard examined the use of international visas

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration had opened an investigation into the use of international visas by Harvard.

The survey will determine the continuous eligibility of Harvard University as a sponsor for the visitors’ exchange program and “ensures that the programs of the State Department do not take place contrary to the interests of our country,” said Rubio.

“All sponsors participating in this program are required to fully comply with the regulations of visitors to exchange, transparency in reports and a demonstrated commitment to promote the principles of cultural exchange and mutual understanding on which the program was founded,” he said in a statement. “To maintain their privilege of sponsoring visitors to the exchange, sponsors must comply with all regulations, in particular the achievement of their programs in a manner that does not undermine the objectives of foreign policy or does not compromise national security interests in the United States.”

“The American people have the right to expect their universities to support national security, comply with the law and provide safe environments to all students,” he added.

Harvard, Trump fights against billions of federal funds as a judge weighs the next steps

Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a meeting with President Donald Trump and the Crown Prince of Bahrain at the Oval Office on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz / CNP / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A Harvard spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the The investigation “is another measure of reprisals crossed by the administration in violation of the rights of the first Harvard amendment”.

“Harvard continues to register and sponsor academics, researchers and international students, and will protect his international community and support them when they ask for American visas and go to campus this fall,” added the spokesperson. “The university is committed to continuing to comply with the regulations of the applicable exchange visitors exchange program.”

The Secretary of the Department of Internal Security (DHS), Kristi Noem, tried to revoke the certification of the Harvard (SEVP) students’ student program, at the origin of the University to register international students. She said the Trump administration “Harvard held responsible for promoting violence, anti -Semitism and coordination with the Chinese Communist Party on his campus.”

In April, Noem demanded that Harvard put the files of “crime and misconduct of foreign students on his campus”. Harvard said he was in accordance, but Noem said that university’s responses were on several occasions.

Harvard challenged the revocation before the court, claiming that the move compromised the studies of more than 7,000 holders of F -1 and J – 1 visa and that the Trump administration retaliated against the university for having maintained its “academic independence”.

The demonstrators meet outside the Moakley Federal Justice Palace, where Harvard challenged $ 2.6 billion in funding discounts on Monday, July 21, 2025 in Boston. (AP photo / Charles Krupa)

About a quarter of the Harvard student body consisted of international students in the past university year.

Continuous justice fights could place Harvard in a non -restable position against Trump

The American district judge Allison Burroughs in Boston rose to the side of Harvard University in May for the first amendment, and, once again, in a preliminary injunction which blocked the revocation more permanently while the dispute takes place.

President Donald Trump published a proclamation ordering the State Department to refuse F-1 and J-1 student visas to foreign nationals seeking to study in institutions “within the framework of the federal investigation for anti-Semitism or national security violations”, explicitly nominating Harvard. Burroughs then responded forcefully to the Trump administration, ordering consular offices to continue treating American visas and customs and border protection to allow Harvard students entry to the United States

The police are watching a costume man head towards demonstrators outside the Boston Federal Justice Palace where Harvard University seemed to challenge $ 2.6 billion in financing discounts by the Trump administration on Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP photo / Charles Krupa)

“The proclamation, like the revocation of the SEVP, seems to be a barely veiled attempt to punish Harvard for having resisted political pressure rather than a legitimate use of the executive immigration authority,” the judge wrote at the time.

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Harvard, on the other hand, returned to the Federal Court on Monday in another case contesting the Trump administration for having reduced $ 2.6 billion in research grants and other federal funding at university.

At the hearing, Burroughs questioned the legality of government’s actions, but has not yet rendered a decision on funding reductions.