Judge suspends Trump’s latest bid to bar foreign students from Harvard
A federal judge in Massachusetts on Thursday swiftly suspended the latest attempt by the Trump administration to keep international students out of Harvard, a victory for the university amid a wider, winding legal war with the administration, which for weeks has been trying to force change at the elite institution.
Thursday’s temporary restraining order comes days after the same judge extended an order she issued last month blocking the administration’s earlier effort to bar international students from enrolling at the university. President Donald Trump tried again in a proclamation Wednesday, writing that allowing foreign nationals to study at Harvard was “detrimental to the interests of the United States because, in my judgment, Harvard’s conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers.”
Harvard’s lawyers, in an amended complaint filed Thursday, said the proclamation was “a patent effort to end-run this Court’s order.”
U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs granted the university’s request for a temporary restraining order on grounds that, without it, Harvard would “sustain immediate and irreparable injury before there is an opportunity to hear from all parties.”
The Trump administration in recent weeks has demanded that Harvard submit to sweeping government oversight and adopt government-ordered changes to its governance, admissions and hiring practices. It has said the directed changes are intended to bring tougher action against campus antisemitism, protect national security and address other concerns.
Harvard says the actions by the Trump administration against the university infringe upon the institution’s First Amendment rights, and it has refused to comply with the demands, prompting the government to freeze research funding, threaten to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status and initiate federal investigations in an effort to strong-arm change.
In their request for a temporary restraining order, Harvard’s lawyers wrote that the attempts to bar international students were not “because of any concerns about the risks posed by those students,” who could enter the United States if they attended any other school, “but instead solely to punish Harvard and force it to yield to the Administration’s unlawful demands.” Such a move would have “the inevitable and intended effect of wreaking havoc on the Harvard community, throwing into disarray every aspect of campus life,” the court filing says.
More than a quarter of students at Harvard come from abroad. Currently, the school has more than 7,000 international students and scholars, and it is expecting thousands more to arrive for the summer and fall academic terms. A bar on international students could reshape the feel and demographics of the university, which has long attracted top scholars and students from around the world.
In a statement on Thursday responding to Trump’s proclamation, Harvard President Alan Garber emphasized the university’s support for its international community.
“International students and scholars make outstanding contributions inside and outside of our classrooms and laboratories, fulfilling our mission of excellence in countless ways,” he said. “We will celebrate them, support them, and defend their interests as we continue to assert our Constitutional rights.”
Susan Svrluga contributed to this report.
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