President Donald Trump said Harvard University is refusing to tell the United States government who its international students are.
On May 22, the Trump administration stripped Harvard of the federal government certification that lets it enrol international students. A federal judge on May 23 temporarily blocked the administration’s effort.
“Part of the problem with Harvard is that there are about 31 percent of foreigners coming to Harvard … but they refuse to tell us who the people are,” Trump told reporters on May 25. “We want a list of those foreign students and we’ll find out whether or not they’re OK. Many will be OK, I assume. And I assume with Harvard many will be bad.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says Harvard did not provide the information it requested about the university’s international students. DHS cited that as one reason for revoking Harvard’s certification. But Harvard disputed that in its lawsuit against the Trump administration.
Courts have not yet ruled on whether Harvard complied with providing DHS with the additional information it requested. DHS asked for details about students’ activities, including “illegal” and “dangerous or violent activity”. However, immigration law experts said Trump’s statement that the US government doesn’t know the identities of Harvard’s international students is incorrect.
US colleges and universities that enrol international students must be certified under the Department of Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program, called SEVP.
SEVP’s database “contains all information about every student visa holder. Addresses, courses, grades, jobs, social media accounts and much more”, Charles Kuck, an Atlanta-based immigration lawyer and Emory University law professor, said.
Harvard has been certified to enrol international students since 1954, according to court documents. As part of the certification, the university is required to report to the US government detailed information about its international students.
Schools renew their SEVP certification every two years. In its lawsuit, Harvard said the university’s “seamless recertification across this period – spanning more than 14 presidential administrations”, is evidence of its compliance.
Additionally, to enter the US, all international students must apply for and be issued student visas via the State Department. To be eligible for a student visa, a person must be enrolled in an SEVP-certified university. The visa application process requires students to provide the US government with detailed biographical information.
When contacted for comment, a White House spokesperson said Trump was “making a simple ask” for Harvard to comply with the government.
What is the Student and Exchange Visitor Program?
The Student and Exchange Visitor Program “collects, maintains, analyses and provides information so only legitimate foreign students or exchange visitors gain entry to the United States”, the DHS website says. “SEVP also ensures that the institutions accepting non-immigrant students are certified and follow the federal rules and regulations that govern them.”
As part of the programme, DHS manages the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System which maintains records on international students and certified universities. Immigration law dictates what records universities must keep and report to maintain certification.
These records include “US entry and exit data, US residential address changes, programme extensions, employment notifications, and program of study changes”, Sheila Velez Martínez, University of Pittsburgh immigration law professor, said. “The information is available to US government agencies.”
The certification programme does not provide visas to students. The federal State Department issues visas. To apply for a student visa, a person must fill out a form and schedule an interview. As part of the application process, students must provide biographical and employment information, including information about their relatives, and answer security questions, including about their criminal records.
Trump administration says Harvard failed to provide international students’ information
On April 16, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent Harvard a letter requesting information about every international student enrolled in the university. Noem asked for “relevant information” about international students’ “illegal activity”, “dangerous or violent activity”, “known threats to students or university personnel” and “known deprivation of rights of other classmates or university personnel”.
Noem said failure to comply with the request would “be treated as a voluntary withdrawal” from the SEVP certification programme.
On April 30, Steve Bunnell, a Harvard lawyer, responded to Homeland Security with information about 5,200 international students, according to Bunnell’s email included in the court filing.
The university said it did not seek to withdraw from the certification and said that while parts of Noem’s request used terms not defined in the immigration law that dictates what information universities must provide, “Harvard is committed to good faith compliance and is therefore producing responsive materials that we believe are reasonably required” by law.
According to Harvard’s lawsuit, the information included student identification numbers, names, dates of birth, countries of citizenship and enrolment information such as academic status, coursework and credit hours. Harvard also provided information about international students who left and why they left, which can cover a “range of reasons, including but not limited to disciplinary action”, Harvard’s email to DHS said.
On May 7, DHS responded saying the information Harvard provided “does not completely address the Secretary’s request”. It reiterated its original request.
Harvard responded on May 14 saying it was “not aware of any criminal convictions” of international students and identified three students who received disciplinary consequences.
As for students who deprived the rights of classmates, faculty or staff, Harvard said it did not find any.
On May 22, Noem sent Harvard a letter saying the university’s certification had been revoked.
“As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information … you have lost this privilege.”
Our ruling
Trump said Harvard University “refuse(s) to tell us” who its international students are.
To enrol international students, Harvard, and all other certified institutions must provide the US government with detailed biographical information about every international student at its institution. That includes students’ names, addresses, contact information and details about their coursework.
Additionally, all international students must have student visas to enter the US. To get these, students who have enrolled in a government-certified university must apply via the State Department. That process also requires students to provide biographical and security information to the federal government.
We rate the statement False.