In New Salvo, Trump Demands Names and Countries of Harvard University's 'Secret' Foreign Students

US President Donald Trump launched a fresh attack on Harvard University on Sunday, demanding the names of its foreign students and the countries they belong to. He also criticised the Ivy League school for requesting "billions of dollars" in federal grants when it already gets the money from overseas students' tuition fees.

What Trump Said

Trump slammed Harvard University for enrolling students from countries that are "not at all friendly" to Washington and "pay nothing towards their own students' education."

Taking to his social media platform, Truth Social, the US president said, "Why isn’t Harvard saying that almost 31% of their students are from FOREIGN LANDS, and yet those countries, some not at all friendly to the United States, pay NOTHING toward their student’s education, nor do they ever intend to. Nobody told us that!"

"We want to know who those foreign students are, a reasonable request since we give Harvard BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, but Harvard isn’t exactly forthcoming. We want those names and countries. Harvard has $52,000,000, use it, and stop asking for the Federal Government to continue GRANTING money to you!" he added.

Trump vs Harvard: The Intensifying Feud

Tensions between the Trump administration and Harvard University have been escalating for months.

On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked Harvard's ability to enroll new foreign students and asked current students to shift to other universities to protect their legal status in the US.

This came after the federal government in April asked the university to end its diversity and inclusivity policies and prevent pro-Hamas and anti-Israel protests on campus-- demands which Harvard refused to meet.

This led to Trump freezing more than $2.7 billion in aid to the Ivy League school. The US president also publicly called for revoking the university's tax-exempt status. 

Also Read: Can't Add 2+2: Trump Mocks Foreign Students as Harvard Ban Stirs 'Mass Panic' on Campus

Following Thursday's ban, Harvard sued the Trump administration, prompting a United States judge to block Trump’s order.

However, the escalating tensions sparked panic and fury among thousands of international students on the Harvard campus, who are now forced to reconsider their choice of university.