By Hannah Parry
Associate News Editor
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The Trump administration has barred Harvard University from enrolling international students, with thousands of existing students now ordered to transfer or be ejected from the U.S.
The Ivy League school enrolls almost 6,800 foreign students from around the world at its campus—more than a quarter of its entire student body—who now face a panicked scramble to find another college to transfer to.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the move on Thursday, claiming that Harvard had allowed "anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators" to assault Jewish students and had collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.
The decision comes as a judge in California blocked the Trump administration from terminating the legal status of international students across the U.S. until a legal battle over previous terminations is resolved.
What to Know
- Trump has frozen federal funding to the university and threatened to revoke its tax-free status unless it makes a series of changes to the administration's liking, including altering its enrollment and hiring practices.
- DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that admitting international students is a privilege, not a right, adding Harvard had ample opportunity to comply with federal demands but refused to do so.
- The administration has revoked Harvard's certification under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), effectively halting its ability to enroll international students.
Newsweek's live blog is closed.
May 22, 2025 at 05:05 PM EDT
Supreme Court declines to reinstate fired independent agency board members
The Supreme Court has declined to reinstate independent agency board members fired by President Trump.
Today's ruling extended an April order from Chief Justice John Roberts that effectively removed two board members that the president had fired from agencies focusing on labor issues, including Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board.
The decision Thursday keeps on hold a lower court ruling that had temporarily reinstated the staff.
May 22, 2025 at 04:44 PM EDT
Secretary of Agriculture says administration working to ban junk food on SNAP
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced at the Make America Healthy Event on Thursday, that the Trump administration is working to "sign multiples of SNAP waivers to get junk food and sugary drinks out of our food stamp system."
"That has never happened before under Republican or Democrat administrations."
May 22, 2025 at 04:34 PM EDT
Former GOP Congress members reject criminal charges against Rep. McIver
Former Republican members of Congress have condemned the Department of Justice's charges against Rep. LaMonica Mclver after the incident at the ICE New Jersey facility.
Led by former Representatives Mickey Edwards and Claudine Schneider, the group of former GOP members released a statement defending McIver's visit to the ICE facility, which they said was "part of her official congressional duties."
"We believe this extreme response to the events of that day is unwarranted," they said in a statement to Newsweek.
"We unequivocally reject the charges against Congresswoman McIver. The constitutional duties of Members of Congress include not only passing legislation but also oversight of executive branch implementation of those laws. That is an essential dimension of American checks and balances."
"This behavior by the Trump administration is outrageous," added Schneider. "Every member of Congress, both past and present, should be speaking up. If not, we will very soon lose our ability to do so."
May 22, 2025 at 04:23 PM EDT
Supreme Court deals blow to Catholic school funded by taxpayers
The U.S. Supreme Court put an end to a taxpayer-funded Catholic school in Oklahoma, dividing 4-4 in a closely watched case that could have resulted in the creation of the nation's first religious charter school.
The outcome keeps in place an Oklahoma court decision that invalidated a vote by a state charter school board to approve the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.
Only eight of the nine justices took part in the case. Justice Amy Coney Barrett didn't explain her recusal, but she is good friends and used to teach with Notre Dame law professor Nicole Garnett, who has been an adviser to the school.
May 22, 2025 at 04:05 PM EDT
WATCH: White House pressed on Trump’s meme coin dinner
May 22, 2025 at 04:04 PM EDT
What RFK Jr’s MAHA plan says about chemicals in food
Ultra-processed foods packed with dyes and synthetic chemicals are contributing to a growing health crisis among children, according to the "Make America Healthy Again" Commission report released Thursday.
In it, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calls for transforming the U.S. food system to emphasize whole foods and reassess nutritional regulations.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February establishing the Make America Healthy Again Commission, which pledged to produce a report within the president's first few months back in office.
The report states that consumption of ultra-processed foods "has gone up at an exponential rate as share of the American diet." Kennedy, who has repeatedly warned of a chronic disease epidemic in the United States, earlier this year described products from companies like Kellogg's and McDonald's as "mass poison to children."
The first section of the report focuses on the rise of ultra-processed foods, attributing their dominance to post-World War II advances in mechanization, industrial farming, synthetic fertilizers and shelf-stable processing. It states that nearly 70 percent of the average American child's calories now come from ultra-processed foods.
Read in full from Many Taheri on Newsweek.
May 22, 2025 at 02:56 PM EDT
White House rips federal judge who said Trump admin violated court order
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tore into a federal judge on Thursday who accused the Trump administration of "unquestionably" violating a court order to provide "meaningful" due process to people who are targeted for deportation.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy lambasted the Trump administration on Wednesday, saying at a court hearing that "it was impossible for these people to have a meaningful opportunity to object to their transfer to South Sudan."
Murphy was referring to seven men that the administration put on a deportation flight bound for South Sudan on Tuesday. That flight has landed, for the time being, in Djibouti.
During Thursday's White House press briefing, Leavitt described Murphy as a "liberal activist district court judge" from Boston who "is trying to force the President of the United States to bring these monsters back to our country."
Read in full from Sonam Sheth on Newsweek.
May 22, 2025 at 02:29 PM EDT
Trump admin bars Harvard from enrolling foreign students as judge blocks them from revoking student legal status
The Trump administration has barred Harvard from enrolling foreign students meaning that thousands will have to transfer schools.
The decision comes as a federal judge blocked blocked immigration authorities from revoking international students' legal status across the U.S.
May 22, 2025 at 02:25 PM EDT
Leavitt slams Democrats for turning ‘a blind eye’ to antisemitism
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt attacked the Democrat party for "turn[ing] a blind eye" to "antisemitic protests" at college campuses.
Leavitt claimed that in some cases, Democrats had "embraced such antisemitic, illegal behavior."
"And that's why this administration has done more than any other administration in history to crackdown in antisemitism," she added. "The president has made it very clear that such hatred will have no place in our country."
The Trump administration has withheld funding to several universities, and attempted to revoke visas of international students who have held protests against the war in Gaza.
May 22, 2025 at 02:13 PM EDT
White House lashes out over South Africa video ‘unsubstantiated’ comments
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rebuked comments from MSNBC's Yamiche Alcindor regarding claims of an "unsubstantiated" video that was shown Wednesday in the White House to South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa.
During an Oval Office meeting, President Donald Trump presented a video to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa alleging violence and "genocide" against white farmers.
Yamiche asked Leavitt Thursday, "The president played a video that he said showed more than 1,000 burial sites of white South Africans that he said was murdered. We know that's not true. Why did he show it?"
Leavitt replied in part, during a testy exchange, "The video showed images of crosses in South Africa about white farmers who have been killed and politically persecuted because of the color of their skin ... that's a ridiculous line of questioning."
May 22, 2025 at 02:11 PM EDT
Trump and Netanyahu discuss potential deal on Iran: White House
President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed a "a potential deal" with Iran during a Thursday phone call, according to the White House.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt added that Trump believes the talks are "moving along in the right direction."
Special envoy Steve Witkoff is reportedly heading to Italy on Friday for talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi.
May 22, 2025 at 02:03 PM EDT
Trump wants two GOP members who voted against his bill to be primaried
The White House confirmed that President Donald Trump would like the two Republicans who voted in opposition to his bill in the House Thursday morning, to be primaried.
Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has a long history of criticizing GOP leaders over budget legislation, and Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio, had both voted against Trump's "big, beautiful bill."
When asked if Trump believes they should both be primaried, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "I believe he does, and I don't think he likes to see grandstanders in Congress.
"The president believes the Republican party needs to be unified and the vast majority of republicans clearly are," she added. "They are listening to the president, they are trusting in President Trump as they should."
May 22, 2025 at 01:54 PM EDT
Trump discussed shooting with Netanyahu today
President Donald Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today in the wake of the D.C. shooting, the White House said.
"They had a productive discussion they discussed many things, including the tragic shooting that took place here in Washington D.C. last night," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
May 22, 2025 at 01:52 PM EDT
White House says Trump hosting meme coin dinner in his ‘personal time’, declines to share guestlist
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has criticized reporters asking the Trump administration to share the list of top meme coin investors who are joining the President of the United States this evening for an exclusive dinner.
When asked if the White House would be sharing the guest list, in the light of their claims of transparency, Leavitt said that she would take it up with Donald Trump but that the president was "attending it in his personal time."
"The president is abiding by all conflict-of-interest laws that are applicable to the president and it think everybody, the American public thinks its absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off the presidency," she added.
"This president was incredibly successful before giving it all up to serve our country publicly," she continued, adding that any suggestion that he was offering the dinner to allow foreign investors to buy access to president was "completely absurd."
May 22, 2025 at 01:41 PM EDT
White House says Trump ‘outraged’ over D.C. shooting
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that President Trump was "outraged over the brutal murder" of the two Israel Embassy staffers in Washington D.C. last night.
She added that Trump and the administration were saddened to hear about the death of the "beautiful young couple" and were praying for their loved ones.
Leavitt said that the Department of Justice was planning to prosecute the suspect to the fullest extent of the law.
"The evil of antisemitism must be eradicated from society," she adde
May 22, 2025 at 01:33 PM EDT
White House appeals to Supreme Court to stop ‘radical leftwing judges’
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt once again railed against "radical, leftwing judges" after Judge Brian Murphy blocked the administration from deporting migrants to war-torn South Sudan.
Murphy held an emergency hearing in Boston on Wednesday, following the deportation of eight individuals with criminal convictions for serious offenses, to their mostly non-native South Sudan. He said the deportation violated a court order that prohibits removals to third countries without allowing immigrants a meaningful chance to object.
"Now a liberal activist district court judge in the city of Boston, MA, is trying to force the President of the United States to bring these monsters back to our country," Leavitt said at her Thursday press briefing.
She added that the deportees, and officials escorting them, had been stuck in Djibouti during the legal battle.
"Radical leftwing judges are egregiously trying to stop President Trump from using his core constitutional powers as head of the executive branch and commander in chief.
"We hope the Supreme Court will continue to rein this in as soon as possible."
May 22, 2025 at 01:13 PM EDT
US Mint to stop making pennies
The U.S. Mint has made its final order of penny blanks and will stop producing any more of the coin once they run out, a Treasury Department official told Associated Press.
Killing the penny will save an expected $56 million annually in material costs, the official said.
President Donald Trump had announced his intention to stop making the one cent coin back in February.
"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social. "I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies."
May 22, 2025 at 01:01 PM EDT
Special envoy Witkoff to lead next round of nuclear talks with Iran
Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to lead the U.S. delegation at the next round of nuclear talks with Iran, Associated Press reports.
Witkoff and Michael Anton, the State Department's director of policy planning, will attend the talks at the Omani embassy in Rome on Friday.
The negotiations, the fifth round of talks, had been announced by the foreign minister of Oman, which has been mediating the talks.
May 22, 2025 at 12:43 PM EDT
WATCH: Mike Johnson met with laughter from Dems when praising Donald Trump
May 22, 2025 at 12:31 PM EDT
Trump’s bill passed the House: What happens next
President Donald Trump's sweeping budget package will move to the Senate after narrowly passing in the House early Thursday morning.
The bill, which includes about $4.9 trillion in tax breaks, was passed after weeks of negotiations and talks with Republicans, some of whom were concerned about constituents losing critical benefits and others who called for further budget cuts.
The Senate will consider the legislation under budget reconciliation rules, which require a simple majority to pass instead of 60 votes, as is typically required.
The chamber has a 53-47 Republican majority, so needs near unanimity for the bill to pass. It is expected that the Senate will make changes to the bill.
Some Senate Republicans, such as Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Josh Hawley of Missouri, have expressed opposition to the Medicaid cuts in the bill.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who has been working with House Republicans who drafted the bill, told reporters that "the Senate will have its imprint on it." He has called for making permanent some tax provisions that are set to expire after a few years.
The bill is not expected to be taken up by the chamber until early June, but Republicans have set a July 4 deadline for both chambers to pass the bill. The budget reconciliation rule also means there is a 20-hour limit on debate.
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