Judge Blocks Trump Admin From Barring Foreign Students At Harvard University
A federal judge on Friday temporarily halted the Trump administration’s ban on Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students. The Department of Homeland Security had announced the policy on Thursday.
Feeling the whiplash? Harvard asked U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston on Friday morning to block the move. The White House was looking to immediately prevent the school from using a government database that tracks students’ enrollment, which is required to issue student visas.
It comes as the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university has fought back against the Trump administration on a number of issues — from funding cuts to mandated curriculum changes to federal investigations regarding campus antisemitism and foreign gifts. It’s not just Harvard. The White House has taken aim at elite schools that it argues have liberal biases and indoctrinate students with anti-American sentiment.
HOW WE GOT HERE
On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered the termination of Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification for allegedly allowing “anti-American, pro-terrorist” foreigners “to harass and physically assault individuals … and obstruct its once-venerable learning environment.” The school was also accused of coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party, saying it hosted and trained members of a Chinese paramilitary group. They didn’t explicitly say what laws they believe Harvard is breaking.
The Trump administration said that meant enrolled international students at Harvard, more than a quarter of the student body, would need to transfer or lose their legal status.
Before the courts jumped in, Noem said Harvard could continue to enroll foreign students if it produces records — including audio or video footage — within 72 hours on foreign students participating in campus protests.
International students are a crucial source of revenue for Harvard, and are not eligible for federal financial aid, with most paying $87,000 per year for tuition, room, and board.
Rewind: Harvard has been in the crosshairs of conservatives for some time, but things came to a fever pitch in December 2023 when its then president, Claudine Gay, would not say in Congressional testimony that calling for the genocide of Jews would break the school’s code of conduct. Gay resigned after backlash from her response, which was that “it depends on the context.”
Harvard’s current president, Alan Garber, who is Jewish, apologized last month following reports of antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus and has vowed to address them. He called the Trump administration’s latest wave of actions “illegal” and refused “to surrender our academic independence.”
