Federal judge blocks Trump administration from barring foreign student
enrollment at Harvard
[May 24, 2025]
By COLLIN BINKLEY
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump
administration from cutting off Harvard's enrollment of foreign
students, an action the Ivy League school decried as unconstitutional
retaliation for defying the White House’s political demands.
In its lawsuit filed earlier Friday in federal court in Boston, Harvard
said the government’s action violates the First Amendment and will have
an “immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000
visa holders.”
“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 in its
suit. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs puts the sanction
against Harvard on hold, pending the lawsuit.
The Trump administration move has thrown campus into disarray days
before graduation, Harvard said in the suit. International students who
run labs, teach courses, assist professors and participate in Harvard
sports are now left deciding whether to transfer or risk losing legal
status to stay in the country, according to the filing.
The impact would be heaviest at graduate schools such as the Harvard
Kennedy School, where about half the student body comes from abroad, and
Harvard Business School, which is about one-third international. Along
with the impact on current students, the move would block thousands of
students who were planning to come for summer and fall classes.
Harvard said it immediately puts the school at a disadvantage as it
competes for the world's top students. Even if it regains the ability to
host students, “future applicants may shy away from applying out of fear
of further reprisals from the government,” the suit said.
If the government's action stands, Harvard said, the university would be
unable to offer admission to new international students for at least the
next two academic years. Schools that have that certification withdrawn
by the federal government are ineligible to reapply until one year
afterward, Harvard said.
Harvard enrolls almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Most are graduate students, and they come from
more than 100 countries.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the action Thursday,
accusing Harvard of creating an unsafe campus environment by allowing
“anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” to assault Jewish students on
campus. It also accused Harvard of coordinating with the Chinese
Communist Party, contending the school had hosted and trained members of
a Chinese paramilitary group as recently as 2024.
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President Donald Trump waves as he departs the White House, Friday,
May 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Harvard President Alan Garber earlier this month said the university
has made changes to its governance over the past year and a half,
including a broad strategy to combat antisemitism. He said Harvard
would not budge on its “its core, legally-protected principles” over
fears of retaliation. Harvard has said it will respond at a later
time to allegations first raised by House Republicans about
coordination with the Chinese Communist Party.
Lawrence Summers, a former Harvard president and U.S. treasury
secretary, wrote on X that the decision would mean losing key
people, “some small fraction of whom are going to go on to be Prime
Ministers of countries who’ve now been turned into enemies of the
United States.” He said the administration's action “is madness.”
The threat to Harvard’s international enrollment stems from an April
16 request from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who
demanded that Harvard provide information about foreign students
that might implicate them in violence or protests that could lead to
their deportation.
Harvard says it provided “thousands of data points” in response to
Noem’s April 16 demand. Her letter on Thursday said Harvard failed
to satisfy her request, but the school said she failed to provide
any further explanation.
“It makes generalized statements about campus environment and
‘anti-Americanism,’ again without articulating any rational link
between those statements and the decision to retaliate against
international students,” the suit said.
Harvard's lawsuit said the administration violated the government's
own regulations for withdrawing a school's certification.
The government can and does remove colleges from the Student
Exchange and Visitor Program, making them ineligible to host foreign
students on their campus. However, it’s usually for administrative
reasons outlined in law, such as failing to maintain accreditation,
lacking proper facilities for classes, or failing to employ
qualified professional personnel.
Noem said Harvard can regain its ability to host foreign students if
it produces a trove of records on foreign students within 72 hours.
Her updated request demands all records, including audio or video
footage, of foreign students participating in protests or dangerous
activity on campus.
The lawsuit is separate from the university’s earlier one
challenging more than $2 billion in federal cuts imposed by the
Republican administration.
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Associated Press writer Annie Ma contributed to this report.
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