Court suspends Trump ban on foreign students at Harvard
The university had called the president's move 'an illegal retaliation'.
2' min read
2' min read
A federal judge in the US has once again blocked the Trump administration's measure to exclude new foreign students from Harvard University. Allison Burroughs upheld the Ivy League university's appeal, filed in Massachusetts district court just hours earlier, and issued a restraining order blocking the government's plan.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump signed an order to immediately suspend international student visas for six months, citing national security concerns. The university's ability to allow foreign students into the country to attend various programmes is thus restored until the 16th of this month, when a new hearing has been scheduled, the Harvard Crimson newspaper reported.
Harvard's appeal denounces the Trump administration's attempt to pressure the institution with illegal retaliatory measures. "With the stroke of a pen, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and the President have tried to erase a quarter of Harvard's student body, the international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission and to the country. Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,' the appeal reads. The same judge had already issued a first injunction in late May, in response to an initial appeal by Harvard following an Administration order to withdraw the Sevis certification granted to the university (Student and Exchange Visitor), the system that allows international students to study in the United States.
"Harvard's more than 7,000 F-1 and J-1 visa holders - and their dependents - have become pawns in the government's growing campaign of retaliation," Harvard wrote on Thursday.
While the process continues, Harvard is drawing up contingency plans so that students and visiting scholars can continue their work at the university, President Alan Garber said in a message to the campus and alumni.
