Harvard, Trump admin clash over court protection for foreign students

Politico

20 hours ago

Harvard University and the Trump administration are at an impasse over the terms of an order a judge said she plans to issue stopping the U.S. government from stripping Harvard of its ability to enroll foreign students.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said two weeks ago during a hearing that she wants to issue a preliminary injunction that would allow international students to attend Harvard while the school presses a lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of infringing on Harvard's First Amendment rights.
Harvard's lawyers informed the judge Thursday that the Trump administration is resisting several provisions the university wants to see in the injunction, including a ban on any 'categorical restriction' affecting the school's foreign students and at least 30 days' notice if the Department of Homeland Security revokes the certification Harvard has enjoyed for more than 70 years to receive foreign students.
Burroughs, a Boston-based Obama appointee, has already issued two temporary restraining orders in the case: one blocking Secretary Kristi Noem's attempt last month to immediately cancel that certification and another blocking a proclamation President Donald Trump issued last week using his immigration powers to bar foreign Harvard students from entering the U.S.
Harvard attorney Ian Gershengorn said in a new court filing that despite those orders, the government has continued to attempt to strip Harvard students of their visas through 'creative relabeling.'
International students make up more than a quarter of Harvard's enrollment. Lawyers on behalf of the university are asking the federal government to demonstrate how it would ensure the injunction is not simply bypassed and how current and prospective students can be assured their visa statuses are not at risk.
'Even in the short time since the hearing, the government has committed to continuing — indeed to intensifying — its retaliatory campaign,' the lawsuit said.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last month, Harvard's International Office told the court in a declaration that dozens of foreign students were asking the school about their options to defer enrollment or transfer to another institution due to the uncertainty around their visas. At least 10 international students or scholars scheduled to travel to study at Harvard this fall had their visa applications refused for 'administrative processing' immediately after the initial DHS action, according to the institution.
Harvard President Alan Garber has tried to reassure his international students through community updates. The university has also advised foreign students and scholars to report issues they encounter while attempting to reenter the U.S. and are urging them to contact their country's local consulate or embassy in the U.S. to inform them that they are attending Harvard.
'We will continue to protect the rights of our international students and scholars, and the Constitutional rights of our University,' Garber said in a statement last week.
At the hearing late last month, a Justice Department attorney said the administration believes no emergency relief by the judge was appropriate, but he agreed to work with Harvard's lawyers on terms for the preliminary injunction.
While the administration and Trump himself have been more critical of Harvard than of other U.S. universities, officials have sometimes sounded more conciliatory in recent weeks, appearing to look for a deal in which the United States' oldest university would make concessions related to antisemitism on campus and to discipline foreign students involved in crimes or protests.
Late last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his agency would move 'aggressively' to revoke visas of Chinese students in the U.S. linked to the Chinese Communist Party. Trump has also called for the number of foreign students at Harvard to drop by about half. However, on Thursday, he struck a very different tone.
'I've always been in favor of students coming in from other countries. That includes China,' Trump told reporters at the White House. 'I think it's a great thing. It's also — it's good for our schools.' He also said he has long favored giving long-term foreign students the right to stay and work in the U.S.
'I'm all for making sure that people like that can go to work for all of our great companies,' the president said.