Two minority student groups at Harvard have been forced to apologize after they put up fake deportation warnings in dorm rooms to frighten students.

Notices from the fake 'Harvard Special Investigations Unit' were put up this week warning that one of their fellow students had been detained indefinitely.

'We regret to inform you that a resident of this dorm has been detained indefinitely due to suspicious actions, suspected violent inclinations, or suspicion of being a deportable alien (i.e. questionable residency status),' the flyers read.

Notices from the fake 'Harvard Special Investigations Unit' were put up this week in the undergraduate dorms warning that one of their fellow students had been detained indefinitely

The notices did say on the back that they were not real and hoped the 'unsettling nature' of the flyer would force people to reflect on the reality that many lived in fear of being deported, the Harvard Crimson reports.

They were posted in the undergraduate dorms by the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee and supported by Harvard Concilio Latino, the Harvard Islamic Society and the Harvard Black Students Association.

Two of the groups have since apologized after the flyers caused widespread outrage.

The Palestine Solidarity Committee issued a statement on its Facebook page saying: 'We sincerely and wholeheartedly apologize for causing triggering experiences that caused pain for many in our communities, rather than bringing light to these issues in a more productive and sensitive manner.

Two of the groups have since apologized after the flyers caused widespread outrage

'While those who drafted this notice are themselves affected by the issues of administrative detention, criminalization, state violence, and deportation, from Palestine to the United States, we recognize that we made a mistake in how we sought to bring attention to the issues.

'When we heard from students and co-sponsors about the way the notice was being received, we immediately stopped distributing the notices, met with the boards of groups directly involved, and sought to better understand what was happening and to prevent further hurt.'

The board of Concilio Latino said it was not previously aware of the flyer's exact contents.

'(The flyers) are fake, but the effects they may have had on any of you are beyond real and represent something entirely antithetical to what Concilio stands for,' the statement reads.