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America calls itself the land of opportunity. Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security slammed the door on thousands who came here to chase it.

After a prolonged back-and-forth over disciplinary records, Washington has made good on its threats to strip Harvard of its ability to host international students, revoking its Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification.

America’s oldest institution of higher education has been left stunned in the aftermath.

Harvard will almost certainly take legal action. But much of the damage has already been done. As news of the DHS’ letter circulated, just over a quarter of Harvard’s student body felt a paradigm shift. Nervous phone calls were made to friends and family. Uncertainty about the vague timeframe of the decision and Harvard’s lack of an immediate response — though surely forthcoming — only multiplied fears.

Without a clear timeline, international students have been stranded in open water. Many have left campus, and most transfer deadlines have already closed. Even if they do transfer, there’s no indication Trump won’t come for their new institution next. In his ongoing feud with Harvard, Trump has decided that Harvard’s 6,000 international students are acceptable collateral damage. They studied at America’s most storied institution. Through no fault of their own, they may leave with nothing.

This is the human cost of playing politics.

At the center of the American mythos lies a grand promise: those who arrive on our shores seeking opportunity should be welcomed with open arms. Under the pretext of standing for American values, Trump has destroyed that very principle. As our peers suffer from the DHS’ ruling, we — as an Editorial Board and as Harvard students — condemn Washington’s move as cruel and deeply un-American.

These attacks don’t just dehumanize our international peers — they harm our campus and country alike. Harvard’s international students are among the most talented scholars in the world, contributing to the University and the United States in myriad ways. They enrich our classrooms and our campus life. Many go on to stay here long after they graduate, excelling in their fields and improving America for the benefit of us all.

The Trump administration defends its choice to put our classmates’ futures in jeopardy under the guise of combating antisemitism, “racist” DEI policies, and anti-American sentiment on college campuses.

We have to wonder: How does sending Jewish students from abroad home — including Israelis — root out antisemitism? How does expelling young adults from other countries fight racism? What could be more anti-American than banishing potential immigrants who have come to our country to learn and contribute to our society?

Threats to international students do nothing to improve our campus — because, for the Trump administration, that’s not the point of levying them. The White House is cracking down on Harvard because our University had the moral fortitude to resist attacks on its independence. Because Harvard wasn’t willing to surrender its hiring or admissions policies to ideological standards imposed by the White House, Trump has cracked down using every weapon in his arsenal.

Make no mistake: This is an attack on the fundamental value of pluralism — worthwhile for its own sake and fundamental to excellence and innovation. To protect our peers’ right to continue their education, Harvard can’t stop fighting back.

Indeed, lawsuits and other forms of continual resistance are our only viable option. Quiet compliance with potentially unlawful oversight would represent a dereliction of our values as a University — and there’s no guarantee it would yield durable protection from an unpredictable White House.

We’re heartened that the University seems poised to take legal action against the Trump administration, but it can’t do it alone. To other universities, we call on you to join Harvard in acts of collective resistance. We understand trepidation about drawing the ire of the White House. But if Trump is able to move forward with revoking our University’s right to host international students, there’s no reason to believe he’ll stop there.

If higher education — and the rest of American civil society — doesn’t stand with Harvard’s international students now, they may find themselves alone when Trump comes for them next.

This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.

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