Chinese students at Harvard were cancelling flights home on Friday and seeking legal advice on staying in the United States after President Donald Trump's administration blocked the famed university from enrolling foreign students.
The order, which said the university coordinated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), among other accusations, will force current foreign students to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status, and could be widened to other colleges.
Harvard called the government's action "unlawful" and said it was "fully committed" to educating foreign students, of which Chinese nationals form the largest group at the elite Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
On Friday, a U.S. district judge issued a temporary restraining order freezing the Trump administration's policy for two weeks.
"I think the Chinese community definitely feels like a more targeted entity compared to other groups," said Zhang, a 24-year-old studying for a PhD in physics.
"Some friends gave me advice that I should try not to stay in my current accommodation if things escalate, because they think it's possible that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent can take you from your apartment," said Zhang, who did not give his first name for security reasons.
Zhang says many among Harvard's Chinese students are worried about their visa status and internship prospects, though others believe the school is likely to win any legal battles.
The number of Chinese international students in the United States has dropped to about 277,000 in 2024 from a high of around 370,000 in 2019, driven partly by growing tension between the world's two biggest economies and heightened U.S. government scrutiny of some Chinese students.
Chinese nationals made up a fifth of Harvard's foreign student intake in 2024, the university says.
In a Friday post on the Chinese social media platform Red Note, or Xiaohongshu, a woman who identified herself as a Chinese student at the Harvard Kennedy School said her teachers had sent Chinese students an email saying the school was actively working to draft a response within the next 72 hours and aimed to negotiate with the U.S. government. In the post titled "Harvard refugee," the woman had identified herself by first name. The post was later deleted.
The U.S. action "will only damage the image and international credibility of the United States", China's foreign ministry said, while vowing to "firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests" of its students overseas.
Several Chinese "princelings", as the children of the elite in the ruling Communist Party are known, have attended Harvard over the past two decades, including President Xi Jinping's daughter, Xi Mingze.
In recent years, however, Xi's anti-corruption campaign has stepped up scrutiny of Communist Party officials and their families' ties to Western countries, including assets stashed overseas and children attending prestigious U.S. universities.
CANCELLED FLIGHTS
Zhang Kaiqi, a master's student in public health, had packed his luggage and souvenirs ready for a Friday flight back to China. But upon hearing the news, he urgently cancelled the expensive flight, losing his internship at a U.S. NGO in China.
"I was sad and irritated. For a moment, I thought it was fake news," the 21-year-old said.
The most anxious among the Chinese students at Harvard are those with summer jobs as research assistants tied to their visa status, crucial for future PhD applications, he said.
As others digested Thursday's order, two Chinese students said they were added to WhatsApp groups in which panicked foreign students were frantically sharing legal advice on their immigration status.
One provided a transcript from such a chat group that showed a lawyer advising students not to leave the country or use domestic air travel, and to wait for official announcements from the school.
Thursday's move was a response to Harvard's refusal to provide information it sought about foreign student visa holders, and could be reversed if the university relents, the Trump administration has said.
LIFE PLANS
As tension has ramped up in recent years between China and the United States, Chinese families have increasingly sent their children to study at universities in other English-speaking countries, such as Australia and Singapore.
On Friday, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said it would provide "unconditional offers, streamlined admission procedures, and academic support to facilitate a seamless transition" for affected students.
Pippa Ebel, an independent education consultant in the southern city of Guangzhou, said while the order did not entirely shut the door to U.S. higher education, it was "likely to be a final nudge towards other destinations".
"It's not going to be a complete turnaround, but a hardening of Chinese parents' existing concerns," said Ebel, who authored a report on Chinese students for British education think tank HEPI.
Incoming Harvard master's student Zhao, 23, is determined to continue her studies in the United States. However, she is considering deferring her enrollment by a year or transferring elsewhere if the ban continues.
"It's really disturbed my life plans ... I had originally planned to apply for my U.S. visa in early June, and now I'm not sure what to do," she said, withholding her first name for privacy reasons.
A U.S. judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard University's ability to enroll foreign students, a policy the Ivy League school called part of President Donald Trump's broader effort to retaliate against it for refusing to "surrender its academic independence."
The order provides temporary relief to thousands of international students who were faced with being forced to transfer under a policy that the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university called a "blatant violation" of the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws, and said would have an "immediate and devastating effect" on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders.
"Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard," the 389-year-old school said in its lawsuit filed earlier on Friday in Boston federal court. Harvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in its current school year, equal to 27% of total enrollment.
The move was the latest escalation in a broader battle between Harvard and the White House, as Trump seeks to compel universities, law firms, news media, courts, and other institutions that value independence from partisan politics to align with his agenda. Trump and fellow Republicans have long accused elite universities of left-wing bias.
Harvard has pushed back hard against Trump, having previously sued to restore nearly $3 billion in federal grants that had been frozen or canceled. In recent weeks, the administration has proposed ending Harvard's tax-exempt status and hiking taxes on its endowment, and opened an investigation into whether it violated civil rights laws.
Leo Gerden, a Swedish student set to graduate Harvard with an undergraduate degree in economics and government this month, called the judge's ruling a "great first step" but said international students were bracing for a long legal fight that would keep them in limbo.
"There is no single decision by Trump or by Harvard or by a judge that is going to put an end to this tyranny of what Trump is doing," Gerden said.
In its complaint, Harvard said the revocation would force it to retract admissions for thousands of people, and has thrown "countless" academic programs, clinics, courses, and research laboratories into disarray, just a few days before graduation. It said the revocation was a punishment for Harvard's "perceived viewpoint," which it called a violation of the right to free speech as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.
The Trump administration may appeal U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs' ruling. In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, "unelected judges have no right to stop the Trump Administration from exercising their rightful control over immigration policy and national security policy.”
Since Trump's inauguration on January 20, his administration has accused several universities of indifference toward the welfare of Jewish students during widespread campus protests against Israel's military campaign in Gaza.
[1/7]Harvard College graduates gather to take photos on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., May 23, 2025. REUTERS/Faith Ninivaggi Purchase Licensing Rights
Harvard's court challenges over the administration's policies stand in contrast to its New York-based peer, Columbia University's concessions to similar pressure. Columbia agreed to reform disciplinary processes and review curricula for courses on the Middle East, after Trump pulled $400 million in funding over allegations the Ivy League school had not done enough to combat antisemitism.
In announcing on Thursday the termination of Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, effective starting in the 2025-2026 academic year, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, without providing evidence, accused the university of "fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party."
Harvard says a fifth of its foreign students in 2024 were from China. U.S. lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns about the influence of the Chinese government on U.S. college campuses, including efforts by Beijing-directed Chinese student associations to monitor political activities and stifle academic speech.
The university says it is committed to combating antisemitism and investigating credible allegations of civil rights violations.
HARVARD DEFENDS 'REFUSAL TO SURRENDER'
In her brief order blocking the policy for two weeks, Burroughs said Harvard had shown it could be harmed before there was an opportunity to hear the case in full. The judge, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, scheduled hearings for May 27 and May 29 to consider next steps in the case. Burroughs is also overseeing Harvard's lawsuit over the grant funds.
Harvard University President Alan Garber said the administration was illegally seeking to assert control over the private university's curriculum, faculty, and student body.
"The revocation continues a series of government actions to retaliate against Harvard for our refusal to surrender our academic independence," Garber wrote in a letter on Friday to the Harvard community.
The revocation could also weigh on Harvard's finances. At many U.S. universities, international students are more likely to pay full tuition, essentially subsidizing aid for other students.
"It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Harvard's bonds, part of its $8.2 billion debt pile, have been falling since Trump first warned U.S. universities in March of cuts to federal funding.
International students enrolled at Harvard include Cleo Carney, daughter of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Princess Elisabeth, first in line to the Belgian throne.