Harvard Visa Threat From Trump Administration Could Eliminate Many Sports Teams For The School 

After the Trump Administration announced that they would be revoking Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, the Ivy League School stated that some of their sports teams would be “virtually wiped out,” according to reports from NPR.

For example, seven out of eight rowers on the men’s heavyweight crew team list international hometowns for the athletes. The team just won the Eastern Sprints title and are heading to the national championships. 

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10 of the 13 men’s squash members and more than half of the women’s soccer and golf teams list foreign hometowns as well. 

Harvard has the most varsity sports teams in the nation, with a total of 42. It was reported last month that 21% of the players on the school’s roster for the 2024-25 season had international hometowns. That’s 196 out of 919 athletes. 

Within the report, however, it was noted that some of those athletes could be US citizens or green card holders that would not require international visas, which is the current issue at hand. 

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security revoked Harvard’s ability to enroll international students citing that the school has created an unsafe environment on campus. 

The administration is claiming that Harvard is allowing “any-American, pro-terrorist agitators” to specifically assault Jewish students on campus. 

This move could potentially force around 6,800 foreign students to transfer or leave the nation. That’s more than a quarter of the school’s enrollment. 

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Harvard has responded to the action by calling it “unlawful” and they stated they are working to help comfort and provide guidance for the students. 

President Alan Garber, made a statement last month after filing a lawsuit to stop the federal funding freeze for Harvard, that the school “will continue to fight hate with the urgency it demands as we fully comply with our obligations under the law. That is not only our legal responsibility. It is our moral imperative.”

Governor of Massachusetts Maura Healey, who actually played basketball at Harvard when she was in college, stated that athletes are a part of 85,000 foreign students who come to the state specifically to “study, conduct research, start businesses, and create jobs and innovations.”

“President Trump is punishing our students and hurting our economy, all as part of his agenda to silence anyone who disagrees with him,” she said. 

“The only ones who benefit from Donald Trump’s actions are China and other countries who are already recruiting these students. It’s the exact opposite of America First.”