In yet another escalation of the administration’s months-long campaign targeting international students and the institutions that host them, President Trump signed two executive orders late Wednesday that intensify federal restrictions on student mobility and access. One imposes
sweeping new travel restrictions for foreign nationals from 19 countries seeking to enter the United States, while the other
bars international students and scholars from entering the United States to study, teach, or conduct research at Harvard University.
The proclamation aimed at Harvard comes just days after a federal judge blocked earlier efforts to revoke Harvard’s ability to host international students. The administration’s latest move attempts to sidestep that injunction, instead invoking national security authority to suspend visas specifically for Harvard-bound students.
“It makes little sense for the Trump administration to be cutting off this important part of what Harvard provides to the U.S. and the world,” ACE President Ted Mitchell said In an interview with
WBUR. He emphasized that international students are often the “very best, the very brightest, the most ambitious from all over the world,” and contribute significantly to U.S. innovation and the global spread of democratic values.
Judge Moves Quickly to Block New Harvard Order
Within hours of Trump’s proclamation, Harvard filed a legal challenge and requested a temporary restraining order. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs granted the request late Thursday night, temporarily blocking the administration from enforcing the new directive.
As
The New York Times notes, this marks the third failed attempt by the Trump administration in as many weeks to bar international students from enrolling at Harvard. The university has accused the administration of retaliating against it for political reasons, calling the move a violation of its First Amendment rights.
Harvard amended an existing lawsuit—originally filed in response to the earlier attempt to revoke its SEVP certification—to include the new presidential proclamation. The
updated complaint accuses the administration of using presidential authority “not aimed at protecting the interests of the United States,” but instead to pursue “a government vendetta.” It also alleges that the White House convened a working group to develop additional punitive measures after the court’s initial injunction.
Travel Ban Revives First-Term Tactics
The same night as the Harvard proclamation, Trump issued a new travel ban affecting individuals from 12 countries, mostly in the Middle East and Africa, with partial restrictions for 7 others. The order also imposes heightened visa restrictions on seven additional nations, citing alleged failures in vetting and cooperation.
The new travel ban, which includes several countries that were not part of the first Trump administration’s bans, is expected to disrupt fall enrollment for students from those countries. Iran is the country on the list with highest number of students—more than 12,000—attending U.S. institutions, according to the latest
Open Doors report.
Although current visa holders are exempt, many incoming students remain stuck in a halted visa process, and existing students from those countries will not be able to leave and re-enter the United States until the State Department restarts visa interviews. According to
The Chronicle of Higher Education, the combined restrictions could do more damage than the COVID-19 pandemic to international student numbers.
ACE’s Sarah Spreitzer told
Inside Higher Ed that the rationale for the travel ban doesn’t align with reality: “If this is for national security concerns, our students are some of the most vetted visas out there,” she said. “And I don’t know if our students actually overstay their visas very often.”
A Pattern of Retaliation Against Higher Education
The Trump administration’s latest actions are part of a broader campaign to exert political pressure on U.S. colleges and universities that welcome international students and scholars. While Harvard is currently at the center of the legal and political fight, recent federal actions have signaled that other institutions could soon face similar treatment.
In the past month:
- The Department of Homeland Security
attempted to revoke Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, which would have barred the university from enrolling international students. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking that move.
- A State Department cable dated May 30
announced a pilot program requiring enhanced social media screening for all nonimmigrant visa applicants affiliated with Harvard, including students, faculty, guest speakers, and staff. Officials described this as a “pilot” with the intent to expand to other institutions.
- The State Department
halted all new F, M, and J visa interviews worldwide, with no clear timeline for resumption. The pause is creating serious disruption for incoming students and institutions preparing for the fall semester.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio
announced plans to “aggressively revoke visas” for Chinese students, especially those in STEM fields or suspected of ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The affected fields remain undefined.
Although the administration initially framed some of these actions as a response to campus antisemitism, its rhetoric and legal filings have since broadened to include DEI programs, academic partnerships with China, and even access to student disciplinary records. One earlier demand from federal officials
reportedly called on Harvard to bar students “hostile to American values” and submit to a federal audit of its ideological diversity.
Last week, ACE organized
a letter on behalf of 37 other higher education associations to Rubio expressing serious concern about this latest wave of new federal actions targeting international students and scholars. The letter urges the department to lift the pause as quickly as possible and to ensure that any new screening procedures are implemented transparently and with input from the higher education community. We also asked for clarification on revoking valid visas held by Chinese students, noting the serious repercussions this could have for our institutions and our country’s reputation as a global education leader.
To raise these concerns with you own lawmakers, NAFSA has created a take action page to help campus leaders and stakeholders contact policymakers directly:
Standing for Students and Scholars.