Trump Administration blocks Harvard from enrolling international students
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00:00Escalation this afternoon in the Trump administration's war against Harvard University.
00:05The New York Times is now reporting that the White House halted Harvard University's ability
00:09to admit international students after Harvard refused to turn over detailed records about
00:14its student body.
00:16The New York Times writes this, quote, the administration notified Harvard about the
00:20decision after a back and forth in recent days over the legality of a sprawling records
00:25request as part of the Department of Homeland Security's investigation.
00:29That's according to three people with knowledge of the negotiations.
00:33For international students already enrolled at Harvard University, this marks a threat
00:38to their ability to study in the United States at all.
00:41In a release from the Department of Homeland Security, DHS Secretary Christine Noem writes
00:46this, quote, existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status.
00:52It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students.
00:56Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing.
00:59It refused.
01:00They have lost their student and exchange visitor program certification as a result of their
01:05failure to adhere to the law.
01:07Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country,
01:12end quote.
01:13Harvard responding in a statement, quote, the government's action is unlawful.
01:17This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country and
01:23undermines Harvard's academic and research mission.
01:26Joining our coverage is New York Times investigative reporter Mike Schmidt, whose byline is on that
01:30reporting we read from.
01:32Mike, let me start with Harvard's response.
01:35Is any of this legal?
01:37Well, we don't know.
01:40Harvard's going to have to go to court to fight this.
01:43And it's going to open up a whole other legal front in their battle with the administration.
01:47And it underscores a, you know, something that officials at Harvard have come to appreciate
01:55and understand that the school is in a highly, is in a crisis.
02:00The school is truly in a crisis because they have lost a major amount of their funding from
02:05the federal government.
02:06And even if they succeed in court in getting that funding back, the administration can still
02:12use or at least try to use the levers of the federal government against them to try to harm
02:19them as they have done here today.
02:22And maybe they're able to go to court and to get some sort of resolution about this.
02:26But if you're an international student at Harvard today, you got a clear message from
02:30the Department of Homeland Security, which was either transfer or leave the country.
02:35And what's remarkable about all of this is that about 25, a little bit more than 25 percent
02:42of all the students at Harvard are international students.
02:47So that means a quarter of the students for the academic year starting in the end of August,
02:53the beginning of September, may not be at Harvard because of this.
02:58Or at least today, their status about whether they can go to school is in question.
03:03And not only is that obviously a big issue for those students, those students who are just
03:09trying to make their way through college or postgraduate studies, but it's a big question
03:14for Harvard's bottom line because of the amount of money that these students pay to the school.
03:21So Harvard, this is just another front that Harvard faces in its fight with the administration.
03:26The fight with Harvard seems so deeply personal and clear retribution for fighting and not
03:34coming in and doing what you described as a true social deal that the law firms went in
03:38and did that Trump and his lawyer Boris Epstein hammered out.
03:43I mean, what is it that makes this stop?
03:49I don't know.
03:50The thing about Harvard that you have to understand is that it's different than the law firms.
03:56The law firms who wanted to fight went to court and quickly got judges to give them injunctions,
04:03restraining orders, temporary restraining orders, to stop the executive orders.
04:07And those law firms, as much as we can tell, were able to continue on with their work.
04:13The difference about Harvard is that half of their research budget is tied to money from
04:20the federal government.
04:22So that in and of itself created a huge question about where is that research money going to
04:29come from, not just for this year, but in future years.
04:33And research is something that researchers would like some certainty about.
04:36They would not like to be thinking, oh, where is my money going to be in a year or two for
04:41this long, you know, long, long term study into things like cancer.
04:47Things like cancer.
04:49I want to ask you where all of these, a lot of them are scientists.
04:53A lot of them are working on research projects into things like cancer.
05:11I don't know, because like cancer, I don't know, I don't know.
05:13I want to ask you where there are three and today.
05:21And there are three and a lot of them on research websites.
05:23And there's now less than five years.
05:24But They are better off than 15 years.
05:24And the research conditions , and they are moreикеikan and bacteria.
05:26They are terrible.
05:27And many others arebagoted.
05:28And there's a lot of them.
05:29In myzier, you know, that point the moment looks like a reset was ec Beast's action.
05:32So I should have to control this video.
05:34I can understand everything I professors who were constantly thinking about.
05:36I mean, it all should be a plan for their work in an observation.
05:38So they actually give an opportunity.
05:39So ladies, if you guys, you guys mess in a corner or something like this,