Harvard gets more time from US court to stop Trump's ban on foreign students

India Today

5 hours ago

A federal judge has given Harvard University more time to block President Donald Trump's new order banning international students from studying there. Judge Allison Burroughs said on Monday that she would extend the current court order until June 23."We'll kick out an opinion as soon as we can," said Judge Burroughs at the end of the hearing in Boston.Harvard filed the case after Trump signed a proclamation on June 4, banning foreign students from entering the US to attend Harvard. The next day, the judge blocked the order temporarily. advertisement
Harvard had nearly 6,800 international students last school year, making up about 27% of all students from the prestigious university in Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school.Although the judge hasn't said what her final decision will be, she told the US government lawyer defending Trump's order that they face an "uphill battle."HARVARD SAYS THE BAN WOULD BE DEVASTATINGIan Gershengorn, Harvard's lawyer, said Trump's ban would have a "devastating" effect on the university and its students. He told the judge that Trump signed the order to punish Harvard in violation of its free speech rights under the US Constitution's First Amendment for refusing to accede to the administration's demands to control the school's governance, curriculum and the ideology of its faculty and students.Gershengorn argued that the move violated Harvard's free speech rights.advertisementHowever, the US Justice Department said the president has full authority under US immigration laws to block the entry of certain groups of people if needed. Tiberius Davis, the government lawyer, said, "We don't trust them to host foreign students." He added that there are national security concerns linked to Harvard.The Trump administration has already froze billions of dollars in government funding and also suggested removing the university's tax-exempt status. Harvard has filed two lawsuits to fight back—one to get back about $2.5 billion in frozen funds and another to stop the ban on foreign students.CERTIFICATION AND SECURITY CLAIMSOn May 22, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the immediate cancellation of Harvard's certification for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. This certificate allows the school to have foreign students.However, Judge Burroughs blocked this move quickly. On June 4, Trump signed the controversial proclamation, saying that Harvard is "no longer a trustworthy steward of international student and exchange visitor programs." Trump has also accused Harvard of allowing antisemitism to grow on campus and of failing to protect Jewish students after protests over Israel's war in Gaza happened at universities around the US, including at Harvard.With inputs from ReutersMust Watch