Overview
Summary
On May 22, 2025, the Trump administration revoked Harvard University's Student Exchange and Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, which is required to enroll international students on F-1, J-1, and M-1 visas.[1] Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem explained to the university in a letter that it had lost the "privilege" of enrolling international students.[2] In response, Harvard filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on May 23, 2025 in the District of Massachusetts, claiming violations of its First Amendment rights, the Administrative Procedure Act, and procedural due process.[3] That same day, US District Judge Allison Burroughs issued a temporary restraining order against the SEVP revocation.[4]
Timeline
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) originally issued Harvard a records request on April 16, 2025, asking the university to submit disciplinary records relating to international students' "illegal," "dangerous," or "violent" activity on or off campus over the past five years.[5] It also requested audio and video footage of these students at protests.[6] On April 30, 2025, Harvard responded by providing certain limited records that it deemed as "information falling within 8 C.F.R. § 214.3(g)(1),"[7] such as records on student enrollment and "SEVIS termination and cancellation data."[8] US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) administers the SEVP program, which uses ICE's SEVIS database to track student records at certified institutions. DHS found that the university's submission was not fully responsive and issued an additional request on May 7, 2025.[9] In turn, Harvard produced disciplinary records on three international students who faced a change in academic status.[10] However, Secretary Noem deemed Harvard's response still "insufficient" and revoked the university's SEVP certification, citing not only the university's failure to comply with DHS record requests, but also its creation of a "hostile environment" for Jewish students and its use of "racist" DEI policies.[11] As a result, this revocation bars Harvard from enrolling students on an F- or J-visa for the upcoming academic year.[12] Furthermore, all Harvard students currently on these visas – 27.3% of Harvard's student body – must transfer to another university "to maintain their nonimmigrant status."[13]
On June 4, 2025, the administration further issued a proclamation preventing international students on F-, M-, or J-visas from entering the country to study at Harvard.[14] It also directed the secretary of state to consider revoking the visas of current international students at Harvard.[15] In a public statement, the White House defended its order by citing Harvard's "extensive entanglements with foreign adversaries," its DEI-focused admission policies, "violent anti-Semitic incidents on campus," and the university's failure to either fully report disciplinary records or adequately police its students.[16]
Harvard filed an amended complaint against the administration on June 5, 2025. The university argues that the president lacks the statutory authority to exclude international students intending to study at a particular university from entry into the US in the name of national security.[17] Characterizing the proclamation as a front-end method of preventing international students from studying at Harvard and unlawfully evading the May 23, 2025 temporary restraining order,[18] Harvard once again sought a temporary injunction from the court to prevent the proclamation from going into effect.[19] That night, Judge Burroughs enjoined the administration from giving effect to the presidential proclamation.[20] Judge Burroughs also extended the May 23, 2025 temporary restraining order against the revocation of Harvard's SEVP certification until June 20, 2025, or an earlier date on which a preliminary injunction can be ordered.[21]
On June 20, 2025, Judge Burroughs then issued a preliminary injunction preventing the administration from "implementing, instituting, maintaining, or giving any force or effect" to the May 22, 2025 SEVP revocation.[22] The preliminary injunction requires the administration to prepare "guidance" within the next 72 hours to appropriate employees and contractors in embassies, consulates, ports of entry, and field offices to disregard the SEVP revocation.[23] However, the administration is not precluded from "issuing routine requests for information and documents" in order to ensure compliance under the applicable regulatory scheme.[24] The preliminary injunction does not address the June 4, 2025 presidential proclamation – the May 23, 2025 temporary restraining order thus remains in place.
Background
Over 1.1 million international students studied in American institutions of higher education (IHEs) during the 2023–2024 academic year.[25] More than 50% of these students pursued studies in STEM fields, with another 14% studying business and management.[26] It is estimated that these students contributed $43.8 billion to the US economy and supported 378,000 jobs.[27] Particularly for public universities facing decreases in state educational funding, international students, unlike many US students, "commonly pay full price for tuition" and can therefore "subsidize" costs for domestic students.[28]
To matriculate at a US IHE, non-US citizens must first obtain and maintain a valid immigrant student visa. There are three main types of "nonimmigrant" visas available to international students, under which these students are temporarily admitted to the US for the sole purpose of study.[29] The F-1 visa is for students enrolling in universities, colleges, conservatories, or English-language programs,[30] who are then eligible to apply for optional practical training (OPT) employment authorization after graduation.[31] The J-1 visa is for students on academic exchanges with government-approved institutions.[32] The M-1 visa is for students enrolling in vocational or technical programs.[33]
IHEs that choose to enroll international students with valid student visas must comply with specific federal statutes and regulations. Among other requirements, students on an F-1 visa must intend to begin a "course of study" in a program "approved by the Attorney General."[34] To seek this approval, IHEs must receive "SEVP certification" from ICE. Eligibility for SEVP certification is conditioned upon being a "bona fide school" and an "established institution of learning or other recognized place of study," along with having the "necessary facilities, personnel, and finances to conduct instruction" and engaging in such instruction.[35] Once an institution receives its initial SEVP certification, it is required to recertify every two years and is subject to certain recordkeeping and reporting requirements.[36]
IHEs seeking recertification must submit a completed Form I-17 and petition fee, after which SEVP will review the institution's compliance with recordkeeping and eligibility requirements.[37] SEVP-certified schools are required to maintain records about each international student's identity, current address, record of coursework and grades, academic status (including suspensions, dismissals, probations, or withdrawals), applicable termination date and reason, and applicable graduation status.[38] IHEs report certain records in the online SEVIS database administered by ICE.[39] Institutions must also assign a Designated School Official (DSO) to update and maintain student records in the SEVIS database, which are subject to an annual verification process.[40] Even if certain student information is not required to be entered into the SEVIS system, an IHE must make all applicable records accessible to its DSO, keep records of reporting compliance for the three years after a student is no longer enrolled, and produce all records upon DHS request.[41]
Along with the biennial recertification process, DHS may also conduct out-of-cycle reviews and require an institution to provide updated records.[42] An out-of-cycle DHS review is automatically triggered when an IHE changes any of 20 categories of information on its Form I-17 on SEVIS, including the school's address and available degrees offered; adding a new campus will also trigger such a review.[43] DHS may also elect to conduct an out-of-cycle review at any time to ensure compliance with recordkeeping and retention requirements, along with the institution's continued SEVP eligibility.[44] An IHE's SEVP certification can be revoked on one of two bases: during the recertification process if a finding of noncompliance is made,[45] or when an out-of-cycle review identifies IHE ineligibility or noncompliance and initiates a withdrawal proceeding.[46] Federal regulations enumerate 19 "valid and substantive" reasons for which an IHE may lose its SEVP certification, including noncompliance with 8 C.F.R. § 214.3(g)(2) (failure to update student and school information on SEVIS), DSO misconduct (such as willful false statements), and failure to notify the SEVP program of material changes to the IHE.[47] There are also specific circumstances in which a DSO or ICE may terminate a student's SEVIS record,[48] although there are ongoing legal challenges as to the effect of a record termination on a student's legal status in the country.[49]
Regarding student privacy rights, international students on F-, M-, and J- visas do not enjoy the same protections under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).[50] FERPA protects the disclosure of personally identifiable information from a student's post-secondary educational record without the student's consent.[51] Educational institutions are required to report to ICE information about international students that would ordinarily be subject to FERPA protections, "but only to the extent that 8 U.S.C. § 1372 and § 214.3(g)" or corresponding regulations about J-visa students require.[52]
The Trump administration claims that Harvard failed to comply with recordkeeping requirements by failing to provide "information regarding misconduct and other offenses that would render foreign students inadmissible or removable."[53] In response, the university argues that federal law and regulations do not require IHEs to maintain such records or report them to DHS.[54] Although 8 C.F.R. § 214.3(g)(2) does require an institution to report on the SEVIS platform "any disciplinary action" taken as a result of a student's conviction of a crime, it is unclear whether Havard's withheld documents fall within this category. It remains to be seen what the court will decide, but the administration's request for disciplinary records may be facially broader than what the law requires regarding records of student discipline from criminal convictions. The university was not given a process to administratively appeal the discussion, nor was it given a Notice of Intent to Withdraw for withdrawal proceedings.[55]
Trump Administration Actions
The administration's revocation of Harvard's SEVP certification and proclamation against international students at Harvard is the latest in an ongoing legal battle between the administration and Harvard. On April 14, 2025, the administration froze more than $2.2 billion in federal funding to the university, which Harvard claims was direct retaliation for its refusal to comply with the administration's demands for maintaining mandatory student and faculty "viewpoint diversity," disciplining specific sets of students and student organizations, and allowing government review of faculty hires.[56] Harvard is now facing additional federal investigations, including Department of Education inquiries into antisemitism on campus and improper disclosure of foreign donations, an EEOC inquiry into the university's alleged hiring discrimination against white, Asian, male, and heterosexual applicants, and a Department of Justice inquiry into whether the university's admissions practices violate the False Claims Act.[57]
As of now, the administration has yet to clarify why Harvard's responses to its record requests were insufficient. On May 29, 2025, the same day on which the temporary restraining order hearing took place, the administration gave Harvard an additional 30 days to provide rebuttal evidence against the SEVP revocation.[58] Incoming and current international students at Harvard will be in limbo during summer break as the legal proceedings continue. President Trump publicly stated that the administration and Harvard are in settlement negotiations on June 20, 2025, the same day that Judge Burroughs issued a preliminary injunction against the SEVP revocation.[59] The administration filed its appeal of this injunction with the First Circuit late last week.
While the Harvard lawsuit was pending, the State Department on May 27, 2025 paused all visa interviews for international students enrolling at any institution, as it contemplates a mandatory social media vetting process.[60] On June 18, 2025, the Department of State announced that interviews would resume shortly under a new visa screening and vetting process, in which applicants for F-, J-, and M-visas must keep the privacy settings for all social media accounts as "public."[61]
High-Level Takeaways
This latest student visa-related enforcement action against Harvard comes in the wake of the administration's mass revocation of student visas beginning in March, which reportedly led to the self-deportation of hundreds of non-US IHE students.[62] And although the administration is currently placing Harvard at the center of its broader IHE enforcement focus, it is likely that other IHEs, particularly those that have been the subject of accusations of tolerating antisemitism on campus, will be subject to similar document requests and potential enforcement action where their responses are considered insufficient. Given this enforcement risk, IHEs should prepare themselves accordingly, including:
- Ensuring compliance with SEVIS recordkeeping requirements under 8 C.F.R. § 214.3(g).
- Ensuring that changes to international student or school information are reflected on SEVIS, pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 214.3(g)(2).
- Understanding the extent to which the institution is permitted or required to produce documents in response to requests from ICE or CBP, and the student notice obligations under FERPA that are triggered by those requests.
- Familiarizing themselves with the withdrawal proceedings and administrative appeals process[63] for an out-of-cycle SEVP certification revocation.
- Considering contingency planning for current and incoming international students in preparation for administrative action that could impede those students' ability to study at the institution. Such contingency planning should consider the possibility of offering online options to permit students to obtain course credits from outside the US, and the partnering with non-US schools to allow admitted and enrolled students to take courses at those schools in order to earn credits toward their degree. For example, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government last week entered into an agreement with University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy to permit students enrolled at Kennedy to take courses toward their degree at Munk. The University of Arizona has similarly begun a pilot program through which it will offer courses in London to its current and incoming non-US students.
Neha Aluwalia, a Steptoe summer associate, contributed to this alert.
[1] Student Exchange and Visitor Program, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (May 8, 2025), https://www.ice.gov/sevis.
[2] Letter, Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program Decertification, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (May 22, 2025).
[3] See Compl., President and Fellows of Harvard Coll. v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., Case 1:25-cv-11472 (D. Mass. 2025).
[4] Temp. Restraining Ord., President and Fellows of Harvard Coll. v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., Case 1:25-cv-11472-ADB (D. Mass. 2025).
[5] Bianca Quilantan, Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney, Judge blocks Trump administration’s attempt to crush Harvard’s foreign student enrollment, Politico (May 23, 2025), https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/23/harvard-sues-trump-administration-international-students-00367076.
[6] Id.
[7] Compl., supra note 3 ¶ 11(g).
[8] Id. ¶ 123.
[9] Id. ¶ 134–36.
[10] Id. ¶ 139.
[11] U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec. Letter, supra note 2.
[12] Id.
[13] Id. See also Jonathan Shaw, Government Revokes Harvard’s Ability to Enroll International Students, Harvard Magazine (May 23, 2025), https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2025/05/harvard-trump-administration-international-student-visas-revoked.
[14] Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Restricts Foreign Student Visas at Harvard University, The White House (June 4, 2025), https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/06/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-restricts-foreign-student-visas-at-harvard-university/.
[15] Am. Compl., President and Fellows of Harvard Coll. v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., Case No. 1:25-cv-11472-ADB (D. Mass. 2025) ¶ 1.
[16] Fact Sheet, supra note 14.
[17] Am. Compl., supra note 15 ¶ 5.
[18] Id. ¶ 26.
[19] See Mem. In Support of Pl.’s Emergency Mot. For a Temp. Restraining Ord., President and Fellows of Harvard Coll. v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., Case No. 1:25-cv-11472-ADB (D. Mass. 2025).
[20] Ord. Granting Pl.’s Mot. For a Temp. Restraining Ord., President and Fellows of Harvard Coll. v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., Case No. 1:25-cv-11472-ADB (D. Mass. 2025).
[21] Id.
[22] Ord. Granting Pl.’s Mot. For Preliminary Injunction, President and Fellows of Harvard Coll. v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., Case No. 1:25-cv-11472-ADB (D. Mass. 2025).
[23] Id.
[24] Id.
[25] International Students: Key Findings, Open Doors (Nov. 18, 2024), https://opendoorsdata.org/annual-release/international-students/#fast-facts.
[26] Id.
[27] International Students Contribute Record-breaking Level of Spending and 378,000 Jobs to the U.S. Economy, NAFSA: Association of International Educators (Nov. 18, 2024), https://www.nafsa.org/about/about-nafsa/international-students-contribute-record-breaking-level-spending-and-378000-jobs.
[28] Emily Badger et al., These Are the U.S. Universities Most Dependent on International Students, The New York Times (May 23, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/upshot/harvard-trump-international-students.html.
[29] What Does the Term Nonimmigrant Mean?, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Apr. 20, 2017), https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/2017/04/what-does-term-nonimmigrant-mean; see also Catherine Haight, Int’l Athletes’ Wages Should Be On-Campus Employment, Law360 (May 9, 2025), https://www.law360.com/articles/2335140/int-l-athletes-wages-should-be-on-campus-employment (explaining rare circumstances international student athletes could qualify for O-1 “extraordinary ability” or P-1 “internationally recognized athlete” visas).
[30] Student and Exchange Visitor Program: Students, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (May 9, 2025), https://www.ice.gov/sevis/students.
[31] Optional Practical Training (OPT) for F-1 Students, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (Nov. 25, 2024), https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/students-and-exchange-visitors/optional-practical-training-opt-for-f-1-students.
[32] Exchange Visitors, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (Jan. 13, 2025), https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/students-and-exchange-visitors/exchange-visitors.
[33] U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, supra note 30.
[34] 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(F)(i).
[35] 8 C.F.R. § 214.3(a)(3)(i).
[36] 8 U.S.C. § 1762(a).
[37] 8 C.F.R. § 214.3(h)(2).
[38] 8 C.F.R. § 214.3(g), 8 U.S.C. § 1372(c)(1).
[39] See 8 C.F.R. § 214.3(a)(1).
[40] PDSO/DSO Annual Verification, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Dec. 14, 2023), https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/sevis-help-hub/school-records/pdsodso-annual-verification.
[41] 8 C.F.R. § 214.(g)(1).
[42] 8 C.F.R. § 214.3(h)(3).
[43] 8 C.F.R. § 214.3(h)(3)(i).
[44] 8 C.F.R. § 214.3(h)(3)(iii).
[45] 8 C.F.R. § 214.3(h)(2)(iii).
[46] Supra note 44.
[47] 8 C.F.R. § 214.4(a)(2).
[48] Termination Reasons, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Apr. 9, 2025), https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/sevis-help-hub/student-records/completions-and-terminations/termination-reasons.
[49] See Ord. Granting Preliminary Injunction, Doe v. Trump, Case 4:25-cv-03244-JSW (N.D. Cal. 2025).
[50] 8 C.F.R. § 214.1(h).
[51] 34 C.F.R. § 99.5.
[52] Supra note 50.
[53] Compl., supra note 3 ¶ 145.
[54] Id.
[55] Id. ¶ 56–59.
[56] Id. ¶ 11.
[57] Michael C. Bender, All the Actions the Trump Administration Has Taken Against Harvard, The New York Times (May 22, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/us/politics/harvard-university-trump.html.
[58] Sarah Mervosh & Michael C. Bender, Trump Officials Given Harvard 30 Days to Rebut Foreign Student Ban, The New York Times (May 29, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/us/trump-harvard-international-students.html.
[59] Druv T. Patel, Trump Claims Harvard Is in Talks With White House Over ‘Historic’ Settlement, The Harvard Crimson (June 20, 2025), https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/6/21/trump-harvard-talks-truth-social/.
[60] Nahal Toosi, Trump team pauses new student visa interviews as it weighs expanding social media vetting, Politico (May 27, 2025), https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/27/trump-team-orders-stop-to-new-student-visa-interviews-as-it-weighs-expanding-social-media-vetting-00370501.
[61] Announcement of Expanded Screening and Vetting for Visa Applicants, U.S. Department of State (June 18, 2025), https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/06/announcement-of-expanded-screening-and-vetting-for-visa-applicants/.
[62] See Annie Ma, More than 1,000 international students have had visas or legal status revoked, The Associated Press (Apr. 18, 2025), https://apnews.com/article/f1-visa-international-college-student-trump-9d4d900d328a0c205503c1178e70f1d5; see Andy Rose, International students are being told by email that their visas are revoked and that they must ‘self-deport.’ What to know, CNN (Apr. 19, 2025), https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/19/us/visa-revoked-students-trump-ice.
[63] See 8 C.F.R. § 214.4(b).
