Federal judge blocks Trump effort to keep Harvard from hosting foreign
students
[June 21, 2025]
By COLLIN BINKLEY and ALBEE ZHANG
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump
administration’s efforts to keep Harvard University from hosting
international students, delivering the Ivy League school another victory
as it challenges multiple government sanctions amid a battle with the
White House.
The order from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston preserves
Harvard's ability to host foreign students while the case is decided,
but it falls short of resolving all of Harvard's legal hurdles to
hosting international students. Notably, Burroughs said the federal
government still has authority to review Harvard's ability to host
international students through normal processes outlined in law.
Harvard sued the Department of Homeland Security in May after the agency
abruptly withdrew the school’s certification to host foreign students
and issue paperwork for their visas, skirting most of its usual
procedures. The action would have forced Harvard’s roughly 7,000
international students — about a quarter of its total enrollment — to
transfer or risk being in the U.S. illegally. New foreign students would
have been barred from coming to Harvard.
The university said it was experiencing illegal retaliation for
rejecting the White House’s demands to overhaul Harvard policies related
to campus protests, admissions, hiring and more. Burroughs temporarily
had halted the government's action hours after Harvard sued.
Less than two weeks later, in early June, President Donald Trump tried a
new strategy. He issued a proclamation to block foreign students from
entering the U.S. to attend Harvard, citing a different legal
justification. Harvard challenged the move, saying the president was
attempting an end-run around the temporary court order. Burroughs
temporarily blocked Trump's proclamation as well. That emergency block
remains in effect, and Burroughs did not address the proclamation in her
order Friday.
“We expect the judge to issue a more enduring decision in the coming
days,” Harvard said Friday in an email to international students. “Our
Schools will continue to make contingency plans toward ensuring that our
international students and scholars can pursue their academic work to
the fullest extent possible, should there be a change to student visa
eligibility or their ability to enroll at Harvard.”
Students in limbo
The stops and starts of the legal battle have unsettled current students
and left others around the world waiting to find out whether they will
be able to attend America's oldest and wealthiest university.
The Trump administration’s efforts to stop Harvard from enrolling
international students have created an environment of “profound fear,
concern, and confusion,” the university said in a court filing.
Countless international students have asked about transferring from the
university, Harvard immigration services director Maureen Martin said.
Still, admissions consultants and students have indicated most current
and prospective Harvard scholars are holding out hope they’ll be able to
attend the university.
For one prospective graduate student, an admission to Harvard’s Graduate
School of Education had rescued her educational dreams. Huang, who asked
to be identified only by her surname for fear of being targeted, had
seen her original doctoral offer at Vanderbilt University rescinded
after federal cuts to research and programs related to diversity, equity
and inclusion.
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Rowers paddle down the Charles River near the campus of
Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., March 7, 2017. (AP
Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
Harvard stepped in a few weeks later with a scholarship she couldn't
refuse. She rushed to schedule her visa interview in Beijing. More
than a month after the appointment, despite court orders against the
Trump administration's policies, she still hasn't heard back.
“Your personal effort and capability means nothing in this era,”
Huang said in a social media post. “Why does it have to be so hard
to go to school?”
An ongoing battle
Trump has been warring with Harvard for months after the university
rejected a series of government demands meant to address
conservative complaints that the school has become too liberal and
has tolerated anti-Jewish harassment. Trump officials have cut more
than $2.6 billion in research grants, ended federal contracts and
threatened to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status.
On Friday, the president said in a post on Truth Social that the
administration has been working with Harvard to address “their
largescale improprieties" and that a deal with Harvard could be
announced within the next week. “They have acted extremely
appropriately during these negotiations, and appear to be committed
to doing what is right,” Trump's post said.
Trump's administration first targeted Harvard's international
students in April. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanded
that Harvard turn over a trove of records related to any dangerous
or illegal activity by foreign students. Harvard says it complied,
but Noem said the response fell short and on May 22 revoked
Harvard’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
The sanction immediately put Harvard at a disadvantage as it
competed for the world’s top students, the school said in its
lawsuit, and it harmed Harvard’s reputation as a global research
hub. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,”
the lawsuit said.
The action would have upended some graduate schools that recruit
heavily from abroad. Some schools overseas quickly offered
invitations to Harvard’s students, including two universities in
Hong Kong.
Harvard President Alan Garber previously said the university has
made changes to combat antisemitism. But Harvard, he said, will not
stray from its “core, legally-protected principles,” even after
receiving federal ultimatums.
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Collin Binkley has covered Harvard for nearly a decade — most of the
time living half a mile from campus.
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