Y’all, I cannot just sit and read about this without saying something. WHY does tRump have such a hard-on for trying to “punish” Harvard? Is he really so petty as to send the IRS and Homeland after them because they told him they were going to teach what they always had? Well, that answer seems to be yes. Is it legal? I don’t know because I don’t know where to look, but apparently it is. Talk about ridiculous!
The IRS is supposed to be protected from politics. According to CNN: US law specifically prohibits presidents from directing the IRS to investigate anyone in a section entitled: “Prohibition on executive branch influence over taxpayer audits and other investigations.” Well, this is the Age of tRump now, isn’t it. Since he already thinks he is above the law, he doesn’t have any compunctions about breaking it. “While there are examples of colleges losing or failing to achieve tax-exempt status, this has never come on the heels of a president’s express wish. The IRS is supposed to be immune to politics.” So the point is, Agent Orange isn’t supposed to be able to *tell* the IRS to look at something specific, like a particular school. “Interestingly, the tax law Trump signed during his first term levied a new tax on the wealthiest universities, including Harvard. The 1.4% excise tax on universities with more than $500,000 per student in their endowments applied to 58 universities in 2022, according to the Tax Policy Center, and raised $244 million. That tax still exists today.”
Okay, I’m getting off track there, so yanking myself back to the original question, which was, can Traitor Tot direct the IRS to go after a school? The answer is officially, no, he cannot. That doesn’t exclude the fact that he has apparently already done so, because making the news about Harvard losing its tax-exempt status would definitely be an example, both to Harvard and to other schools. So yes, he has. That’s far too blatant to be a coincidence.
Moving on, the Department of Homeland Security sent the following to Harvard: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent Harvard “a scathing letter demanding detailed records on Harvard’s foreign student visa holders’ illegal and violent activities by April 30, 2025, or face immediate loss of Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification,” her agency said Wednesday in a news release that refers to antisemitism but does not detail specific incidents.” Oh, lawdy. On what basis does she have this information? Or is it something from the mouth of El Presidente Imbécil? We all know how stupid she sounds, and she must have people who think for her. Remember the “commercial” done in front of all the people locked in a cage in El Salvador? And how class-LESS she looked? Yea, that.
But anyhow, onto some facts. Educational institutions are required to have SEVP certification (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) with ICE in order to admit applicants who have an F-1 or M-1 student visa. SEVP is part of Homeland. Institutions are required to provide up-to-date basic information about each student to SEVP, including their address and academic status. Noem’s letter demands far more, including information about a visa holder’s “known dangerous or violent activity” and “deprivation of rights of other classmates or university personnel.” The Homeland Security Department also demands that Harvard say “whether any student visa holders have had disciplinary actions taken as a result of making threats to other students or populations or participating in protests, which impacted their nonimmigrant student status.” “Failure to comply with this Student Records Request will be treated as a voluntary withdrawal (from SEVP),” the letter states.
So, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is trying to use this and twist it to prove Harvard should lose its exchange students. And just like the IRS, what’s the point? They do have to give information to Homeland, and that’s more or less normal, but she is going over the top with her excessive demands.
By the way, you can read Harvard’s response to tRump here. Plus money from alumni is *pouring* into the school! And did you know there are some members of Congress who graduated from here?
Gee, I guess Harvard should be *cough* “happy” with this out-of-the-blue interest from the IRS and Homeland Security. They’re getting personal attention! You know what? They are not changing their minds about their curriculum. I think they never will. And there are ways for them to fight back. I would guess they’re looking at them right now. Sooo, I hope I gave you folks enough information. I didn’t want to get heavily into specifics, but I was trying to tell you about what I found in a much less convoluted way than news articles. Thanks for sticking with me!
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You’d have to be pretty stupid to take on an entity with it’s own legal department – specially when that ‘legal department’ is actually the top legal school in the country and possibly the world.
But this is Trump, the Dunning Kruger president.
I seem to recall how *outraged* certain members of Congress were back around 2011 and 2012 when they demanded to know why the IRS was “investigating” the claimed tax-exempt status for a lot of TEAbagger groups that had just suddenly sprung up in 2010 and 2011. Those members of Congress (pretty much all belonging to the “Red” Party) demanded to know why the IRS was “unfairly targeting” conservative groups (even though the facts showed groups made up better than 75% of ALL new groups seeking the vaunted 501(c)(3) status and that they were still being approved at a higher rate than similar new liberal/progressive groups).
Granted, there are probably a lot fewer current members of Congress who were serving in either House back then but does anyone think there will be similar howls of outrage over the Drumpf Administration’s BLATANT political demands the IRS investigate Harvard over its tax-exempt status?
Thehy weren’t unfairly targeting them. They were quite justifiably investigating them, for the reasons you explain.
Then why did Lerner apologize and resign?
Ask Barry Hussein and Lois Lerner about IRS targeting, they’re experts.