Judge Grants Harvard Temporary Relief On Foreign Student Ban

Update (1200ET): Hours later, a judge has granted Harvard’s request for a temporary restraining order on the Trump administration’s foreign student ban.

US District Judge Allison Burroughs, an Obama appointee, issued the temporary restraining order freezing the policy.

You will never guess which judge was assigned “purely by chance” to the Harvard lawsuit seeking to block Trump’s foreign student ban:

Yep, same one assigned to Trump Harvard funding lawsuit, Allison Burroughs who previously ruled for Harvard’s affirmative action program https://t.co/32TLf3oZTY

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 23, 2025

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Update (1919ET): To the surprise of no one, Harvard University sued the Trump administration on Friday, less than 24 hours after the Department of Homeland Security gave the university 72 hours to hand over information on foreign students or they would block international students from attending the nation’s oldest university.

In a Friday morning letter to the Harvard community, president Alan Garber wrote: “We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action,” adding that it “imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard and serves as a warning to countless others at colleges and universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their education and fulfill their dreams.”

The lawsuit, which claims that the move violates its First Amendment and due process rights, accuses the Trump administration of a “campaign of retribution” against the university, which indicated that it would also be filing a temporary restraining order (TRO) asking a judge to immediately block the administration’s action.

The suit claims that the Trump administration is exerting “clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”

“With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the university and its mission,” reads the lawsuit. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.“

The US revoked Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor program certification, meaning foreign students can no longer attend the university. Existing international students must transfer or lose their legal status, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday. -BBG

This is the second lawsuit Harvard has filed against the Trump administration in a matter of weeks.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration and House Republicans are also investigating Harvard over alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

In a 14-page letter sent Monday, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party is requesting a series of information about Harvard’s activities that “create risks to U.S. national security and further the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) genocide in Xinjiang.”

The letter was signed by John Moolenaar, chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition; Tim Walberg, chairman of the U.S. Committee on Education and Workforce; and Elise Stefanik, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, according to masslive.com.

The Congressional bodies are accusing Harvard of, and requesting information on:

Harvard hosted and trained members of the Chinese Communist Party
Harvard researchers collaborated with China-based academics on research funded by an agent of the Iranian government
Harvard researchers used funding from the Department of Defense to partner with China-based academics on research with potential military applications
Harvard researchers partnered with China-based individuals linked to China’s defense academic and industrial base on research that could advance China’s military modernization
Further information regarding the safeguards Harvard places around research collaborations related to organ transplantation when research is conducted with People’s Republic of China-based researchers

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Harvard is having a really bad year. From feds yanking billions in grants, to House Republicans alleging ties to the Chinese military, to President Trump threatening their tax-exempt status, to detained embryo-smuggling scientists (and most of that’s just this month), the university has now been blocked from enrolling international students – which constitute nearly 1/3 of Harvard admissions.

“I am writing to inform you that effective immediately, Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked,” according to a letter sent to the university by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, which they promptly shot over to the NY Times. The university has 72 hours to hand over requested information.

The decision followed a back-and-forth in recent days over the legality of a wide-ranging records request by the Department of Homeland Security.

According to Bloomberg, existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status, the notice reads.

This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.

It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments… pic.twitter.com/12hJWd1J86

— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) May 22, 2025

In April DHS threatened to block Harvard from enrolling international students if the university refused to hand over detailed records about the student body containing “relevant information” on student visa holders who have been involved in “known illegal” or “dangerous” activity.

“It is a privilege to have foreign students attend Harvard University, not a guarantee,” Noem wrote in an April letter. “The United States government understands that Harvard University relies heavily on foreign student funding from over 10,000 foreign students to build and maintain their substantial endowment.”

Harvard dug in last month following the Trump admin’s demands – with president Alan Garber saying in a statement “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”

Not So Fast?

Concurrently, a federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from terminating the legal status of international students nationwide while a court case challenging previous terminations is pending.

The order by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White in Oakland bars the government from arresting or incarcerating the plaintiffs and similarly situated students; from transferring any of them outside the jurisdiction of their residence; from imposing any adverse legal effect on students and from reversing the reinstatement of the legal status until the case is resolved. Students can still be arrested for violent crimes. –AP

According to White, the government’s actions “wreaked havoc not only on the lives of Plaintiffs here but on similarly situated F-1 nonimmigrants across the United States and continues do so.”

Read Noem’s letter below (emphasis ours):

Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program Decertification

I am writing to inform you that effective immediately, Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked.

As I explained to you in my April letter, it is a privilege to enroll foreign students, and it is also a privilege to employ aliens on campus. All universities must comply with Department of Homeland Security requirements, including reporting requirements under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program regulations, to maintain this privilege. As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-llamas sympathies, and employs racist “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies, you have lost this privilege.

The revocation of your Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification means that Harvard is prohibited from having any aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status for the 2025-2026 academic school year. This decertification also means that existing aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status must transfer to another university in order to maintain their nonimmigrant status.

This action should not surprise you and is the unfortunate result of Harvard’s failure to comply with simple reporting requirements.

On April 16, 2025, I requested records pertaining to nonimmigrant students enrolled at Harvard University, including information regarding misconduct and other offenses that would render foreign students inadmissible or removable. On April 30, 2025, Harvard’s counsel provided information that he represented as responsive to my request. It was not.

As a courtesy that Harvard was not legally entitled to, the Acting DHS General Counsel responded on my behalf and afforded Harvard another opportunity to comply. Harvard again provided an insufficient response.

Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that want to enjoy the privilege of enrolling foreign students, that the Trump Administration will enforce the law and root out the evils of anti-Americanism and antisemitism in society and campuses.

If Harvard would like the opportunity of regaining Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification before the upcoming academic school year, you must provide all of the information requested below within 72 hours.

Please be advised that providing materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent information may subject you to criminal prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 1001. Other criminal and civil sanctions may also apply.

I expect full and complete responses to the following requests:

Any and all records, whether official or informal, in the possession of Harvard University, including electronic records and audio or video footage, regarding illegal activity whether on or off campus, by a nonimmigrant student enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.

Any and all records, whether official or informal, in the possession of Harvard University, including electronic records and audio or video footage, regarding dangerous or violent activity whether on or off campus, by a nonimmigrant student enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.

Any and all records, whether official or informal, in the possession of Harvard University, including electronic records and audio or video footage, regarding threats to other students or university personnel whether on or off campus, by a nonimmigrant student enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.

Any and all records, whether official or informal, in the possession of Harvard University, including electronic records and audio or video footage, regarding deprivation of rights of other classmates or university personnel whether on or off campus, by a nonimmigrant student enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.

Any and all disciplinary records of all nonimmigrant students enrolled in Harvard University in the last five years.

Any and all audio or video footage, in the possession of Harvard University, of any protest activity involving a nonimmigrant student on a Harvard University campus in the last five years.