Judge blocks Trump's effort to ban international students at Harvard

A federal judge has blocked President Trump’s effort to ban Harvard University from enrolling international students and revoke the students' visas.

The New York Daily News reports that the ruling came just hours after Harvard sued to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from yanking its certification under the federally administered Student Exchange and Visitor Program.

Issuing a temporary restraining order, District Court Judge Allison Burroughs ruled that Harvard had made a “sufficient showing” that it would be hurt by the administration’s effort to revoke its certification to host foreign students, potentially ousting up to 7,000 students and financially crippling the Ivy League institution.

“It will sustain immediate and irreparable harm before all parties have an opportunity to be heard,” Burroughs wrote.

Harvard contends in its lawsuit that the government’s action violates the First Amendment and will have an “immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and 7,000 (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,” Harvard said. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”

The move from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem escalated Trump’s feud with Harvard, which has resisted his effort to impose new government oversight over teaching, hiring and campus governance in an effort to stamp out diversity programs and campus protests like the ones against Israel’s war in Gaza.

The order threw the campus into disarray days before graduation. The impact is heaviest at graduate schools such as the Harvard Kennedy School, where almost half the student body comes from abroad, and Harvard Business School, which is about one-third international.