Federal judge blocks Trump admin's ban on Harvard foreign students

A U.S. District Judge has again blocked President Trump’s ban on Harvard’s incoming international students.

On Monday, Judge Allison Burroughs placed another preliminary injunction on all action pertaining to alien students participating in education or research at the Ivy League school.

A U.S. District Judge has again blocked President Trump’s ban on Harvard’s incoming international students.

On Monday, Judge Allison Burroughs placed another preliminary injunction on all action pertaining to alien students participating in education or research at the Ivy League school. 

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The action follows the Trump administration’s recent efforts to revoke Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) credentials, which allow the university to host foreign students, claiming that it is “no longer a trustworthy steward” of the privilege. 

In a June 4 proclamation, the President Trump announced that SEVP credentials rely “fundamentally on academic institutions’ good faith, transparency, and full adherence to the relevant regulatory frameworks.” 

The document noted Harvard’s strong ties to “foreign adversaries,” such as China, which “try to take advantage of American higher education by exploiting the student visa program for improper purposes and by using visiting students to collect information at elite universities in the United States.”

In May, the Department of Homeland Security accused Harvard of “permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students.” The department said that many of the agitators are foreign students. 

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The attempt to halt international students from attending Harvard is one of many actions by the Trump administration against the university. The administration has frozen billions of dollars in federal funding and grants over other concerns such as discriminatory DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programming and campus anti-Semitism complaints.

“We expect the judge to issue a more enduring decision in the coming days,” a school official said in an email to foreign students, the AP reports. “Our Schools will continue to make contingency plans toward ensuring that our international students and scholars can pursue their academic work to the fullest extent possible, should there be a change to student visa eligibility or their ability to enroll at Harvard.”

Currently on its website, Harvard’s International Student Office says that it will “continue to defend its rights — and the rights of its students and scholars.”

Campus Reform has reached out to Harvard University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.