{shortcode-81f9f255e5280ccdcf72be672c14b4fdf893dbce}

Austrian student Karl N. Molden ’27 learned that the Trump administration had stripped Harvard of its ability to enroll international students when his phone began “exploding” on Thursday with text messages from his peers.

“I got so many push notifications like I usually don’t do, and so I figured something must have happened. I looked at it and then I see this news and it’s insane,” Molden said.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification had been halted “effective immediately” in a Thursday letter to Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76.

The announcement — which came more than a month after the DHS threatened to revoke Harvard’s authorization to enroll foreign students in April — did not surprise international students. But they were left anxious and confused about what their future might look like, prompting many to begin grappling with the threat of no longer studying at Harvard.

Noah G. Plattner ’27 said that though the Trump administration’s earlier threat made the Thursday announcement “less unexpected,” the move was still jarring.

“Some people’s livelihoods and some people’s future really, really depended solely on being able to go to Harvard and make a better life for their families,” said Plattner, an international student from Austria.

Sofia Yaliztli Ackerman ’25, who is from Mexico, said “it just kind of feels like being stripped away from a dream.”

Harvard announced Friday morning that it had sued the Trump administration and that it filed a temporary restraining order to stop the DHS from revoking its SEVP credentials. The restraining order was granted hours later.

But before the announcement arrived, students said they were left unsettled throughout Thursday without any guidance from Harvard’s top administrators.

“Within the international students, everyone is very scared and doesn’t really know what to do,” Ackerman said. “At some point we don’t really know how much to actually be scared or not, because within a day or so or within a couple hours, the decisions change.”

The situation “adds up to a general feeling of not just general uncertainty, but now uncertainty about my future,” said Oksana Trefanenko ’28, a student from Ukraine.

International students at Harvard said it was too soon to determine their next steps amid the shifting legal landscape. Though messaging from the White House urgently instructed students to transfer to another university “or lose their legal status,” Garber’s Friday morning email signaled forthcoming updates from the International Office and did not address the need to transfer.

But with deadlines for transfer applications to most other universities long passed, several international students said they don’t consider it a viable option, especially while they await official guidance from the University.

“Some people are saying, ‘Oh, what if we just transfer, like we just go to MIT instead or to a random other Boston school and just attend classes at Harvard through cross-registration?’” Plattner said. “But these are all rumors that are floating around.”

Lavrenchuk — who is originally from Ukraine — said that she has considered taking a gap semester, but that would mean not graduating alongside her friends. Instead, she sees applying to Harvard’s study abroad programs as “more feasible.”

Noem also gave Harvard 72 hours to submit international students’ disciplinary records to have the “opportunity” to regain its certification to enroll international students. Some students said they are trying to catch flights back to the U.S. within Noem’s three-day window, while others still in the country are cancelling flights home.

A few international students even joked about marrying friends who are U.S. citizens to gain citizenship. Eliot House aide Gabrielle A. David ’23-24 said that her fellow House aide, who is from the United Kingdom, jokingly called her about getting married after hearing the news.

The air of trepidation also spread to non-international students, like Ace I. Mejía-Sánchez ’25, who said she is “fearful” for her international friends.

“I think we’re all devastated on behalf of our peers and our friends and worried about whether their safety is at risk,” Mejía-Sánchez said.

In interviews prior to Harvard’s Friday lawsuit announcement, students expressed hope that Harvard would not capitulate to the Trump administration’s demands.

“We’re very hopeful Harvard will stand up for basically one quarter of its population and fight for our rights, because they’re the same as of any other students,” Trefanenko said.

“We’re not immigrants to this country. We’re not refugees. We’re just students,” she added.

—Staff writer Darcy G Lin can be reached at darcy.lin@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.

—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.