The White House slams Harvard's 'anti-semitic, pro-terrorist' campus in defence of international student ban

The White House has responded to Harvard University's statement about the Trump administration's move to ban international students.

Trump has not hid his goals and aims since starting his term as the 47th President of the USA, with one of them being to tighten up on immigration laws.

However, his government made the bombshell announcement on Thursday (22 May) that Harvard would no longer be permitted to enrol students from overseas.

The President signed an order to dismantle the American education system in March, and this move signals that he isn't slowing down any time soon.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated that the University's ban on welcoming international students was because of 'their failure to adhere to the law'.

Writing on X, she added that it should be 'a warning to all universities and academic institutions'.

In response, the Ivy League university sued the Trump administration, calling the move 'unlawful' and an attempt to 'undermine' their 'academic and research mission'.

The Trump administration have removed Harvard's 'Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification' (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Following the university's scathing statement, the administration has responded.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told LADbible in a statement: “If only Harvard cared this much about ending the scourge of anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist agitators on their campus they wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with.

“Harvard should spend their time and resources on creating a safe campus environment instead of filing frivolous lawsuits.”

Known as the oldest university in the US, Harvard wrote a long statement condemning the government's move to restrict the students they can accept, which will come into effect from the 2025/26 academic year onwards.

The letter sent to the university details that they have 72 hours to comply with their demands, meaning they can 'regain' the ability to enrol international students.

Harvard said: "We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard's ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the University – and this nation – immeasurably.

"We are working quickly to provide guidance and support to members of our community. This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard's academic and research mission."

It was confirmed today (23 May) that the university is suing the Trump administration, with no clear end in sight.

Harvard University has hit back at Trump's demands (Mel Musto/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

For now though, Trump's plans have been ground to a halt, as a federal judge in Boston has blocked the progression of the controversial plans...momentarily, at least.

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs has issued a temporary restraining order which stops the government from pulling Harvard’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Programme.

This means the school can continue to host international students with visas to study in the US for the time being.

Back in April, the Trump administration sent Harvard University a 'list of demands', while launching investigations into a number of other higher education institutions.

Harvard then threatened to sue, though the White House claimed that the list was sent by mistake.

It requested the university to change its hiring, admission and teaching methods to fight antisemitism on campus.

If not, it threatened to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status and pause billions of dollars in government grants.

While the university claimed this year that it made the necessary changes to adhere to Trump's demands, the Department of Homeland Security stated that they would lose their ability to educate international students.

This has now left current international students at the university in limbo, with no clue as to what comes next.