Judge sides with Harvard against Trump visa block

A federal judge in Boston said she will issue a preliminary injunction Thursday to block the Trump administration’s directive to strip Harvard University of its ability to admit international students.

Judge Allison Burroughs issued the ruling from the bench after an emergency hearing on the administration’s move, which upended the lives of the 27 percent of Harvard’s student body that is made up of foreign students. 

“I want to maintain the status quo,” Burroughs said from the bench, according to CNN. 

Harvard quickly sued the administration last week after the directive was given by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which also ordered current international students at Harvard to transfer to other schools or risk losing their visas.

“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said. “It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments.   

In a court filing Wednesday, Maureen Martin, the university’s director of immigration services, detailed a long list of consequences the directive had on Harvard in the week since it was announced.  

Some international students are looking to transfer due to the order, others are declining offers to Harvard, those with Harvard visas are getting extra screening at airports, and other countries are looking to recruit students away from Harvard, she said.  

Before the hearing, the Trump administration said it would give Harvard 30 days to hand over certain information before implementing its directive, but the judge still chose to put her injunction in place.

Burroughs told the lawyers for Harvard and the Trump administration to work out an agreement to keep the student visa program in place, CNN reported.

“It doesn’t need to be draconian, but I want to make sure it’s worded in such a way that nothing changes,” she said.

The ruling comes amid a heated battle between Harvard and President Trump, who has also targeted its federal funding and called for its tax-exempt status to be revoked.

Trump has listed a variety of reasons for targeting student visas, including accusations of antisemitism and claims that foreign-born students are taking away slots from their American counterparts.

Harvard has refused to change its hiring and admissions policies or eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the demand of the administration, and has seen billions of dollars in funding frozen and multiple federal agency investigations launched against it.

The administration and Harvard are locked in another lawsuit after the school challenged the first $3 billion in federal funding taken away. The next hearing for that case is in July.

Updated at 2:19 p.m. EDT