US judge blocks Trump administration's move to bar foreign students at Harvard
BOSTON: A federal judge on Friday (Jun 20) blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to prevent Harvard University from hosting international students, delivering the Ivy League institution another victory as it challenges multiple government sanctions amid an escalating battle with the White House.
The order from US District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston preserves Harvard's ability to host foreign students while the case is decided.
Harvard sued the Department of Homeland Security in May after the agency withdrew the university’s certification to host foreign students and issue paperwork for their visas. The action would have forced Harvard’s roughly 7,000 foreign students, about a quarter of its total enrolment, to transfer or risk being in the United States illegally. New foreign students would have been barred from coming to Harvard.
The university called it unlawful retaliation for rejecting the White House’s demands to overhaul policies around campus protests, admissions, hiring, and other issues. Burroughs temporarily halted the action hours after Harvard filed suit.
Less than two weeks later, in early June, President Donald Trump moved to block foreign students from entering the United States to attend Harvard, citing a different legal justification. Harvard challenged the move, and Burroughs temporarily blocked that effort as well.
The stops and starts of the legal battle have unsettled current students and left others around the world waiting to find out whether they will be able to attend America’s oldest and wealthiest university.
The Trump administration’s actions have created an environment of “profound fear, concern, and confusion,” the university said in a court filing. Countless international students have asked about transferring, according to Harvard immigration services director Maureen Martin.
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Trump has been at odds with Harvard for months after it rejected a series of government demands meant to address conservative complaints that the school has become too liberal and has tolerated anti-Jewish harassment. Trump administration officials have cut more than US$2.6 billion in research grants, ended federal contracts, and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status.
In April, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanded that Harvard turn over records related to any dangerous or unlawful activity by foreign students. Harvard said it complied, but Noem deemed the response insufficient and on 22 May revoked Harvard’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Programme.
The sanctions placed Harvard at a disadvantage as it competed for top global students, the university said in its lawsuit, and damaged its reputation as a leading research hub. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,” the suit stated.
The action would have upended graduate programmes that recruit heavily from abroad. Some universities overseas, including two in Hong Kong, quickly offered invitations to affected Harvard students.
Harvard President Alan Garber has said the university has implemented changes to combat antisemitism. However, he added that Harvard would not stray from its “core, legally protected principles,” even in the face of federal ultimatums.
