Judge orders Trump to stop blocking international students from Harvard

Boston judge delivers another blow to administration’s attempts to stop foreign student enrollment while commencement ceremonies were underway just miles away

A federal judge in Boston will continue blocking Donald Trump’s administration from revoking Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, dealing another blow to the government's pressure campaign against the nation’s oldest school.

Just six miles from where Harvard’s commencement ceremonies are underway, Massachusetts District Judge Allison Burroughs told attorneys for the administration and Ivy League institution that she intends to issue a “broad” injunction that blocks officials from trying to stop Harvard from keeping foreign students on campus.

A graduating student wears their hat, decorated with a statement of support for international students, during Harvard University’s commencement ceremonies on May 29 as a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from ending foreign student enrollment (REUTERS)

Thursday’s hearing follows Trump’s announcement last week that the administration rescinded Harvard’s permissions to enroll international students and forced currently enrolled foreign students to leave the university or risk losing their legal status in the country.

Harvard immediately filed a lawsuit accusing the administration of violating the First Amendment with “immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders.”

“With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission,” Harvard said in its suit. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”

The Trump administration is waging a “campaign of retribution” against the university, according to the lawsuit.

“We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action,” Dr. Alan M. Garber, Harvard’s president, wrote in a letter addressing students and staff last week.

The Trump administration “imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard and serves as a warning to countless others at colleges and universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their education and fulfill their dreams,” he added.

Trump’s escalating effort to bend Harvard and other institutions to his ideologically driven demands follows the administration’s threats to pull funding in the wake of pro-Palestine campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.

The Department of Homeland Security claims Harvard “has created an unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students, and otherwise obstruct its once-venerable learning environment.”

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the president said “Harvard has to behave themselves, Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect.”

“And all they’re doing is getting in deeper and deeper and deeper,” he said.

A Harvard University graduate student wears a placard reading ‘Palestinian & Jewish Liberation are Intertwined’ during graduation ceremonies on May 29 after the Trump administration pressured the college to crack down on pro-Palestine protests or risk federal funding (EPA)

On Thursday, Burroughs said she plans to order the Department of Homeland Security and State Department not to make any changes to Harvard’s student visa program as she considers a preliminary injunction. A restraining order will remain in place.

“I want to maintain the status quo,” she said.

Lawyers for Harvard and the Justice Department have been ordered to reach an agreement that continues to allow the university to accept student visa holders.

“It doesn’t need to be draconian, but I want to make sure it’s worded in such a way that nothing changes,” Burroughs said.

On Wednesday, Homeland Security officials sent a letter to Harvard giving the university 30 days to respond to the administration’s notice that the university’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program would be revoked.

If the university is barred from admitting foreign students, more than 7,000 people would be forced to transfer to another school, and thousands of new students arriving this year for Harvard’s summer and fall semesters would not be allowed to enter the country.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered a pause on all new interviews for student visa applicants as the government prepares to expand how it reviews applicants’ social media profiles after taking aim at pro-Palestine demonstrations.

All U.S. embassies and consulates were ordered this week to immediately suspend visa appointments “until further guidance is issued” to implement new social media vetting.

The administration “is focused on protecting our nation and our citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process,” a State Department spokesperson told The Independent.