TMTPOST -- A U.S. federal judge on Friday temporarily halted one of the Trump administration ’ s aggressive actions against Harvard University.
Judge Allison Burroughs for the District Court of Massachusetts issued an order granting Harvard ’ s motion for a Temporary Restraining Order ( TRO ) , effectively blocking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) from enforcing a ban on Harvard ’ s enrolling international students. The TRO is justified to preserve the status quo pending a hearing, according to the order.
Burroughs found the ban will "sustain immediate and irreparable injury" before there is an opportunity to hear from all parties involved in the case. During the hearing, which is set for May 29, she will consider whether to issue a preliminary injunction in the case.
The ruling was issued hours after Harvard filed a lawsuit in Boston federal court. The university sued the Trump administration for a revocation that strips its ability to enroll foreign students under the F-visa program, for the first time in more than 70 years.
In its 72-page filling, Harvard alleged the revocation is "a blatant violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act" and the act in "clear retaliation" for the school exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government ’ s demands to control its governance, curriuculum, and the "ideology" of its faculty and students.
Harvard claimed the government sought to erase a quarter of its student body. It said the ban, which entered effect immediately on Thursday, will leave most of its thousands of enrolled F-1 and J-1 visa students little choice but to secure transfer to another school or risking being rendered without lawful status in the U.S. It also warned "countless academic programs, research laboratories, clinics, and courses" supported by its international students have been thrown into disarray. "Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard," the complaint reads.
"We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action," Harvard President Alan Garber said in a letter to the Harvard community on Friday. He slapped the Trump administration's actions as an effort to lash out at Harvard over its "refusal to surrender our academic independence and to submit to the federal government ’ s illegal assertion of control over our curriculum, our faculty and our student body."
The DHS announced on Thursday Harvard lost the Student and Exchange Visitor Program ( SEVP ) certification for fostering violence, antisemitism, and pro-terrorist conduct from students at its campus. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered the department to terminate Harvard ’ s certification. The order means the Ivy League school "can no longer enroll foreign students and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status", DHS said in a news release.
In a letter sent to Harvard, Noem informed that its SEVP certification was revoked, effective immediately. The university, if it wants to regain its ability to host foreign students, has 72 hours to hand over requested information about international students, , including audio or video footage, of foreign students participating in protests or dangerous activity on campus.
With SEVP certification, Harvard currently has approximately 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge Massachusetts, accounting for 27% of its student body. That marked a significant increase from the proportion of 19.6% in 2006. Most of them are graduate students,coming from more than 100 countries.
The revocation is U.S. President Donald Trump ’ s another blow to Harvard. Noem last month terminated two DHS grants totaling over $2.7 million to the university. The Secretary also wrote a letter demanding detailed records on Harvard ’ s foreign student visa holders ’ illegal and violent activities by April 30, or face immediate loss of SEVP certification.
