Home World Judge puts temporary hold on Trump's latest ban on Harvard's foreign students

Judge puts temporary hold on Trump’s latest ban on Harvard’s foreign students

A relief sculpture rests on a gate to the entrance of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., March 13, 2016.

A relief sculpture rests on a gate to the entrance of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., March 13, 2016. Steven Senne/AP hide caption

toggle caption

Steven Senne/AP

WASHINGTON — A federal judge late Thursday temporarily blocked a proclamation by President Donald Trump that banned foreign students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard University.

Trump’s proclamation, issued Wednesday, was the latest attempt by his administration to prevent the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college from enrolling a quarter of its students, who accounts for much of Harvard’s research and scholarship.

Harvard filed a legal challenge the next day, asking for a judge to block Trump’s order and calling it illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of White House demands. Harvard said the president was attempting an end-run around a previous court order.

Sponsor Message

A few hours later, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston issued a temporary restraining order against Trump’s Wednesday proclamation. Harvard, she said, had demonstrated it would sustain “immediate and irreparable injury” before she would have an opportunity to hear from the parties in the lawsuit.

Burroughs also extended the temporary hold she placed on the administration’s previous attempt to end Harvard’s enrollment of international students. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security revoked Harvard’s certification to host foreign students and issue paperwork to them for their visas, only to have Burroughs block the action temporarily. Trump’s order this week invoked a different legal authority.

If Trump’s measure were to survive this court challenge, it would block thousands of students who are scheduled to come to Harvard’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the summer and fall terms.

“Harvard’s more than 7,000 F-1 and J-1 visa holders — and their dependents — have become pawns in the government’s escalating campaign of retaliation,” Harvard wrote Thursday in a court filing.

While the court case proceeds, Harvard is making contingency plans so students and visiting scholars can continue their work at the university, President Alan Garber said in a message to the campus and alumni.

“Each of us is part of a truly global university community,” Garber said Thursday. “We know that the benefits of bringing talented people together from around the world are unique and irreplaceable.”

Harvard has attracted a growing number of the brightest minds from around the world, with international enrollment growing from 11% of the student body three decades ago to 26% today.

Sponsor Message

As those students wait to find out if they’ll be able to attend the university, some are pursuing other options.

Rising international enrollment has made Harvard and other elite colleges uniquely vulnerable to Trump’s crackdown on foreign students. Republicans have been seeking to force overhauls of the nation’s top colleges, which they see as hotbeds of “woke” and antisemitic viewpoints.

Garber says the university has made changes to combat antisemitism. But Harvard, he said, will not stray from its “core, legally-protected principles,” even after receiving federal ultimatums.

Trump’s administration has also taken steps to withhold federal funding from Harvard and other elite colleges that have rejected White House demands related to campus protests, admissions, hiring and more. Harvard’s $53 billion endowment allows it to weather the loss of funding for a time, although Garber has warned of “difficult decisions and sacrifices” to come.

But cutting off students and visiting scholars could hamstring the university’s research and global standing.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Must Read

Greetings from Khartoum, Sudan, where those with the least offer their guests the most

Jackie Lay/NPR Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world. In April, I visited the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, a few months after it was recaptured by the Sudanese army. After more than two years of civil war, the scale of obliteration was

UK may recognize a Palestinian state. And, EPA proposes removing pollution limits

Good morning. You're reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day. Today's top stories The United Kingdom has signaled that it will recognize the State of Palestine by September unless Israel commits to peace in the

India says it killed militants behind the deadly attack on civilians in Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir Special Operation Group personnel guard near the site of a gun battle on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir on Monday. Mukhtar Khan/AP hide caption toggle caption Mukhtar Khan/AP MUMBAI, India — Three months after militants killed 26 tourists at a scenic meadow in the Himalayas, India said on Tuesday that

8.8-magnitude earthquake sends tsunami into coasts of Russia, Japan and Alaska

A traffic jam forms in Honolulu on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, as people heed a tsunami evacuation warning that coincided with rush hour following a powerful earthquakes in Russia's Far East early Wednesday. AP/AP hide caption toggle caption AP/AP TOKYO — One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Russia's Far East early Wednesday, sending

This Underwater Sculpture Garden Protects Italian Fishing Grounds

Enlarge this image A student from an art high school in Grosseto is about to throw into the water a work created to offer octopuses a home as an alternative to illegal fishing traps. Valerio Muscella for NPR hide caption toggle caption Valerio Muscella for NPR A student from an art high school in Grosseto