The Trump administration has subpoenaed Harvard University in its probe of the elite college’s foreign student exchange program — after the Department of Homeland Security said the institution refused to cooperate.
On Wednesday, DHS accused the Ivy League school of refusing to voluntarily comply with past requests and is now seeking to compel Harvard to fork over information on its Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).
“We tried to do things the easy way with Harvard. Now, through their refusal to cooperate, we have to do things the hard way,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem declared.
“Harvard, like other universities, has allowed foreign students to abuse their visa privileges and advocate for violence and terrorism on campus.”
If Harvard won’t defend the interests of its students, then we will.
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) July 9, 2025
We tried to do things the easy way with Harvard. Now, through their refusal to cooperate, we have to do things the hard way. Harvard, like other universities, has allowed foreign students to abuse their visa…
The administrative subpoenas will force Harvard to furnish communications, records and other information dating back to Jan. 1, 2020, relating to how the elite university has enforced immigration laws. Fox News first reported on the subpoenas.
The probe is also investigating the “criminality and misconduct” of students on campus, particularly those involved in its student exchange program.
Noem had made requests for that material on April 16, and on May 22, she directed DHS to cut off its certification of Harvard’s SEVP.
“If Harvard won’t defend the interests of its students, then we will,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Failure to adhere to administrative subpoenas could lead to criminal charges, contempt of court or other types of punishment. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Sophie Park for The New York Times |
President Trump suggested a deal was coming, but officials are still demanding more from Harvard, including extensive information about international students, staff payroll and protests.
President Trump crowed online in June that his administration might cut a “‘mindbogglingly’ HISTORIC” deal with Harvard University “over the next week or so.”
But as the White House and the university negotiated in the weeks that followed, no deal materialized to return the billions of research dollars that the government had frozen.
Now the two sides face a crucial court hearing on Monday in their lawsuit about financial obligations and academic independence, even as the Trump administration continues to pelt the nation’s oldest university to amass leverage in negotiations.
Last week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement served subpoenas to Harvard with sprawling demands that included payroll records, years of disciplinary files and any videos Harvard had of international students protesting on campus since 2020, according to two people familiar with the subpoenas, some of which were reviewed by The New York Times. The agency gave the university a breakneck one-week deadline for compliance.
Also this month, the administration formally accused the school of civil rights violations, arguing that Harvard had failed to protect Jewish people on campus. The government also complained to the university’s accreditor, which could eventually jeopardize Harvard students’ access to federal financial aid.
Even so, both sides have continued discussions toward a resolution of the government investigations into the school and the sprawling legal fights, though they have made limited headway. This account is drawn from conversations with four people familiar with negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid endangering the talks, and from public statements and court records.
Harvard leaders are well aware that a long fight with the government is perilous, threatening jobs, projects, reputations and academic independence. Some inside the university have feared that civil inquiries could become criminal matters.
Trump administration officials are looking to secure the most significant victory of their ongoing pressure campaign on academia. They are seeking to balance the long-term advantage of their powerful hold on the government with the short-term reality of working for a president who regularly favors dealmaking over systemic policy changes.
Negotiators have been exchanging communications about what the administration wants from Harvard and what the university may be willing to accept. But the outcome of the hearing in Boston on Monday could shift how much leverage each side has in the talks.
The case that will be before Judge Allison D. Burroughs began in April, after the Trump administration began to cut off billions of dollars in federal grants to Harvard. The university sued to restore the funding, contending, among other arguments, that the administration’s tactics were violating the university’s First Amendment rights. --->READ MORE HERE
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