U.S. President Donald Trump signed two sweeping executive orders late Wednesday, intensifying his hardline immigration agenda. The first bans entry to the United States from 12 countries deemed "high-risk," including Iran and Yemen, while the second imposes unprecedented restrictions on foreign student enrollment at Harvard University.
In a video posted to Truth Social, Trump cited a terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, earlier this week as the impetus for the new measures. “The recent terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas. We don’t want them," he said.
Trump's statement on the anti-immigration orders
(Video: via Truth Social)
The proclamation, titled “Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” will take effect on June 9. It imposes a full entry ban on citizens from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Partial restrictions will apply to citizens from seven additional countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The president said that he had sanctioned a "security review of high-risk regions" and cited national security concerns, stating that some of the targeted countries demonstrate "large-scale presence of terrorists, failure to cooperate on visa security, inability to verify travelers' identities, inadequate record keeping of criminal histories and persistently high rates of illegal visa overstays and other things."
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Police in Boulder at the scene of the firebomb attack
(Photo: Chet Strange/Getty Images/AFP)
Exemptions include lawful permanent residents, diplomatic visa holders, approved refugees and certain religious asylum seekers from Iran. The order also aims to encourage cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities and improve screening processes.
The announcement follows an attack on a rally supporting Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colorado, where 12 people, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor, were injured by a Molotov cocktail. The suspect was identified as Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45.
In a separate order, Trump suspended the enrollment and acceptance of foreign students at Harvard University, effective immediately for six months. The order bypasses a previous federal court injunction by invoking different presidential powers and allows exceptions only for students deemed in the “national interest.”
The administration accused Harvard of failing to report criminal and disciplinary incidents involving foreign students, saying the university provided only partial information in three such cases. The order also criticizes Harvard for accepting more than $1 billion in foreign funding over the past decade, including $150 million from China, and alleges cooperation with Chinese researchers linked to military institutions.
While neither Israel nor antisemitism is explicitly mentioned in the order, it states that Harvard has admitted students from "nations that seek the destruction of the United States and its allies, or the extermination of entire peoples."
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It further authorizes the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to review and potentially revoke F, M and J visas currently held by Harvard students.
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Pro-Palestinian Harvard students at graduation ceremony
(Photo: Charles Krupa / Copyright 2025 The Associated Press)
Harvard previously challenged similar actions in court, arguing they violated constitutional protections and were politically motivated. A federal judge issued a temporary injunction, but the latest order effectively overrides it, setting the stage for further legal battles.
Separately, the Department of Education has declared Columbia University in New York noncompliant with accreditation standards due to its handling of antisemitic harassment. The warning could affect Columbia’s access to federal funding and student aid programs.