BOSTON — Members of the state’s all-Democrat congressional delegation are urging the Trump administration to stop its “attack” on foreign students attending Harvard University and other elite U.S. colleges, warning that the effort will cost jobs and hurt the economy.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other members of the delegation said the agency’s push to revoke student visas for international students has created a “climate of fear” on college campuses that threatens to shut down a pipeline of job creators, scientists and entrepreneurs.
“This trend creates a chilling effect that discourages the best and brightest students from around the world from coming to study in the United States — which harms not only current and prospective international students, but also American universities, U.S. citizen students on campuses, and, in the long term, the nation’s prosperity and economic growth,” the lawmakers wrote.
Massachusetts hosts more than 80,000 international students, who contribute an estimated $4 billion to the state’s economy and more than 35,000 jobs, the lawmakers wrote. All that is now in jeopardy amid the administration’s attempts to terminate Harvard’s ability to enroll international students on F-1 and J-1 visas.
The letter was signed by every member of the delegation, including Reps. Seth Moulton and Lori Trahan. It included a list of questions for the federal agency ranging how many students have had their visas revoked to whether for foreign students are being subjected to secondary screening when they arrive in the country.
“While the administration may have temporarily restored many SEVIS records — apparently in an attempt to moot ongoing lawsuits and deflate public focus on this issue — international students in Massachusetts and nationwide continue to face serious threats, even beyond Harvard’s campus,” they wrote.
Last week, DHS revoked Harvard’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program — a system that allows the university to admit international students — blocking Harvard’s ability to enroll new international students. Students were given 72 hours to transfer to another school or face revocation of their visas.
Harvard sued the federal government, arguing the move was “retaliation” for its refusal to bow to the Trump administration’s “ideologically rooted” policy demands to dismantle diversity equity, and inclusion programs and crack down on antisemitism on campus.
On Thursday, a federal judge in Boston granted a preliminary injunction blocking the policy from going into effect while the legal challenge plays out in court.
Trump has accused Harvard and other elite universities — including Columbia University, Northwestern, and John Hopkins University — of failing to crackdown on antisemitism on campus during pro-Palestinian demonstrations over Israel’s war against Hamas that roiled many college campuses last year.
Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, has also criticized the Trump administration’s targeting of international students and argues the move will ultimately benefit adversaries like China that are already trying to attract talented students and researchers.
“It’s so dumb,” Healey said in remarks on Wednesday. “Right now the only one winning in this is China, not just here in Massachusetts but around America, because people are afraid to come here. This isn’t America first. What Donald Trump is doing is making America less competitive and putting American interests last.”