Federal judge delays decision over Trump admin barring Harvard foreign students

Yahoo

19-06-2025

A federal judge delayed making a decision until next week on the Trump administration's proclamation barring international students from entering the U.S. to study at Harvard University.
A preliminary injunction would effectively replace two temporary restraining orders that have been granted to allow for the court case to continue until the judge makes a final determination on the legality of the case.
After hearing from lawyers representing Harvard and the Trump administration on Monday, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said she needed more time to decide and extended a temporary restraining order that was set to expire on Thursday until Monday.
The lawsuit initially began after the Trump administration attempted to revoke a key certification allowing Harvard to enroll international students. The university filed its second lawsuit against the federal government last month; the first was filed in April.
Read more: Why the fight over foreign students at Harvard has some US students leaving, too
Since the battle between the university and the administration began, international and domestic students have considered transferring to other universities.
About 27% of Harvard's undergraduate and graduate students are international, according to 2024 to 2025 data.
Since President Donald Trump issued a proclamation barring international students from entering the U.S. to study at Harvard, the students have been wrongly detained at Boston Logan Airport and denied visas, according to Maureen Martin, Harvard's Director of Immigration Services, in a Friday court filing.
During the lengthy hearing on Monday, Harvard lawyers argued the Trump administration's actions left a 'gaping hole' in its First Amendment rights and that they were retaliatory, in part because of a perceived lack of viewpoint diversity.
Ian Gershengorn, a lawyer for Harvard University, said the Trump administration is using the institution's foreign students as 'pawns' to punish the institution.
The Trump administration isn't trying to regulate foreign students, he said, but is trying to regulate Harvard, aiming for the university to hand over information on its students and capitulate to its demands from April. The university has undergone a 'nonstop daily barrage' of basically every federal department going after the institution, he said.
The Trump administration is 'throwing a bunch of things on the wall to see what sticks,' he said.
The consequence of banning international students is 'extraordinary,' and immigration laws are being weaponized against them, he said.
During the hearing, Judge Burroughs said it would be an 'uphill battle' for the federal government to prove there wouldn't be irreparable harm done to the university.
Read more: 'Incredibly ironic': Trump antisemitism effort may force out Harvard's Israeli Jews
Department of Justice lawyer Tiberius Davis, who was alone in court, said the federal government hasn't been retaliating against the university, pointing to other investigations and the pulling of funding at other institutions.
However, Harvard has been 'resistant.'
'We don't trust Harvard to vet, host or discipline its students,' Davis said.
Harvard has several issues, he said, including antisemitism, crime, its entanglement with the Chinese government and foreign adversaries and hasn't adequately disciplined students.
Judge Burroughs pushed back on the implication that this is only happening at Harvard and asked why all international students are included in the Trump administration's actions — including Jewish students from Israel — in the name of combating antisemitism.
The hearing comes after the U.S. State Department ordered embassies around the world to resume processing Harvard University student visas last week.
However, the university has been battling against the Trump administration since April.
It began when the Department of Homeland Security said it was revoking a key certification that allows Harvard University's international students to study there.
The institution was offered an ultimatum by the Trump administration to lose the certification or give up information about its foreign student population.
Quickly after, Judge Burroughs granted a temporary restraining order.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio later stated that the U.S. would begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students and increase vetting of social media accounts of student visa applicants.
Following the revocation attempt, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation that barred Harvard's international students from entering the country. He also directed Rubio to consider halting the processing of Harvard student visas. Another temporary restraining order was granted in response.
Read more: As Trump cuts funding, these Harvard scholars consider leaving US — and academia
Harvard has a separate lawsuit in reaction to the federal government freezing or cutting nearly $3 billion in federal funding, citing antisemitism at Harvard.
The administration has claimed the university failed to protect Jewish students, particularly in the wake of the war in Gaza.
'In the Trump Administration, discrimination will not be tolerated on campus. Federal funds must support institutions that protect all students,' the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wrote in May as it cut $60 million in grants to Harvard.
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Read the original article on MassLive.