Court Blocks Trump’s Latest Attempt To Bar Foreign Students From Harvard

On Thursday, a court temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s latest attempt to prevent foreign students from enrolling at Harvard, escalating the ongoing conflict between the former president and one of the world’s most prestigious universities.

A White House proclamation issued late Wednesday aimed to bar most new international students at Harvard from entering the U.S. and threatened to terminate the visas of current foreign students.

The order stated that “Harvard’s conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers.”

In response, Harvard swiftly amended a federal court complaint, arguing, “This is not the Administration’s first attempt to sever Harvard from its international students.”

The university described the move as part of “a concerted and escalating campaign of retaliation by the government in clear retribution for Harvard’s exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs ruled Thursday that the government cannot enforce Trump’s proclamation, noting that Harvard demonstrated it would suffer “immediate and irreparable injury” without a temporary restraining order.

Judge Burroughs had previously blocked an earlier Trump administration attempt to bar international students from enrolling at Harvard.