Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says Harvard is ‘unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars.’
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on April 16 threatened to revoke Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students, and announced that DHS was pulling $2.7 million in grants from the school.
Noem tied the decision to Harvard’s response to the pro-Palestinian protests at the school that began after Israel’s military operation targeting Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip in response to the group’s attacks on southern Israel in October 2023.
“Since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Harvard’s foreign visa-holding rioters and faculty have spewed antisemitic hate, targeting Jewish students,” the DHS said in a statement announcing the action.
The statement said that Noem had also written a letter demanding Harvard provide detailed records on its foreign student visa holders’ “illegal and violent activities” by April 30, or the university faces immediate loss of Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification.
“If Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students,” the DHS said.
The university came under congressional investigation more than a year ago after it was accused of condoning anti-Semitism on campus—a charge that led to the resignation of Claudine Gay, then-president of Harvard, in January 2024, amid other accusations of plagiarism.
Noem said Harvard’s handling of anti-Semitic activities “threatens our national security.”
“With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory,” Noem said in the DHS statement. “America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars.”
Grants Canceled
DHS also canceled two grants to the school totaling $2.7 million, stating that they “undermine America’s values and security.”
The first, an $800,303 Implementation Science for Targeted Violence Prevention grant “branded conservatives as far-right dissidents in a shockingly skewed study,” DHS said.
The $1,934,902 Blue Campaign Program Evaluation and Violence Advisement grant “funded Harvard’s public health propaganda.”
By Joseph Lord
