Trump Suggests Harvard Cap Number of Foreign Students to Make Room for Americans

President Donald Trump is suggesting that Harvard University cap the number of foreign students it accepts annually to make room for Americans who want to attend the prestigious Ivy League school.

Last week, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it would be blocking Harvard University from enrolling foreign students — a move that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said is to hold the Ivy League school “accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.”

“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments,” Noem said.

FLASHBACK — Harvard Yard Invaded by Anti-Israel Encampment, “Intifada Revolution”:

Harvard, prior to Noem’s announcement, had refused to hand over to DHS criminal and misconduct records of foreign students on its campus.

Harvard, in response, sued the Trump administration. U.S. District Court Judge Allison Dale Burroughs, appointed by former President Barack Obama, sided with the university in halting DHS from imposing its visa cutoff.

In remarks to the media on Wednesday, Trump said Harvard ought to cap its foreign student population at perhaps 15 percent to open more slots for American applicants.

“I think they should have a cap of maybe around 15 percent, not 31 percent,” Trump said. “We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools, they can’t get in because we have foreign students there.”

Harvard, currently, has close to 7,000 foreign students on its campus, or about 27 percent of the Ivy League school’s entire student body. Like other universities and colleges, foreign students are a massive billion-dollar industry for Harvard as tuition and fees are sky-high for such students.

Annually, more than two million foreign students arrive in the U.S. to take spots at American universities. In Fiscal Year 2023, some 1.6 million F-1 student visa-holders were admitted to the U.S. in addition to nearly 12,000 M-1 student visa-holders and more than 481,000 J-1 student visa-holders.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.