President Donald Trump’s attempts to deny visas to international students who intend to enroll at Harvard were temporarily halted by a federal judge on Thursday following a legal challenge by the Ivy League university.
A interim injunction prohibiting anyone from “implementing, instituting, maintaining, enforcing, or giving force or effect to the Presidential Proclamation” issued by Trump on Wednesday was granted by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs.
Earlier on Thursday, Harvard revised its complaint against the Trump administration to include a challenge to the president’s proclamation from the previous day.
In his most recent assault on the prestigious university, it would have refused visas to international students who intended to go to the US to attend Harvard.
Alan M. Garber, president of Harvard, claimed that Trump and his administration were retaliating against Harvard for rejecting their demands, which included auditing the opinions of the student body.
In a letter to the school community, Garber stated, “Singling out our institution for its enrollment of international students and its collaboration with other educational institutions around the world is yet another illegal step taken by the Administration to retaliate against Harvard.”
Trump’s declaration on Wednesday came after the Department of Homeland Security attempted late last month to restrict Harvard’s capacity to accept international students by rescinding its Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, which Burroughs had temporarily stopped.
The restraining order in that case was also extended by Burroughs on Thursday until June 20 or until a preliminary injunctive order could be obtained.
Burroughs said that she was merely “to preserve the status quo pending a hearing” when she granted the restraining order that prevented the DHS effort and Trump’s proclamation from being implemented.
Not just new students would be impacted by Trump’s declaration. According to the statement, the State Department will examine current international students enrolled at Harvard on F, M, or J visas to decide whether to cancel their permits.
In its updated complaint, Harvard said that the proclamation issued Wednesday and the Department of Homeland Security’s earlier attempt to bar it from enrolling international students were violations of its First Amendment rights.
“Each is part of a concerted and escalating campaign of retaliation by the government in clear retribution for Harvard’s exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students,” according to the amended complaint.
Trump’s proclamation, according to Harvard’s amended complaint, permits the president to ban “a class of aliens whose entry would be ‘detrimental to the interests of the United States'”; however, it does not bar entry for a class, only those who wish to enroll at Harvard.
“The President’s actions thus are not undertaken to protect the ‘interests of the United States,’ but instead to pursue a government vendetta against Harvard,” it claims.
Harvard has been under fire from Trump and his administration for allegedly failing to do enough to stop antisemitism on campus during anti-Israel-Hamas protests.
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In April, Harvard turned down proposals from the Trump administration, including examining student opinions. The federal government responded by declaring that over $2 billion in federal funds would be frozen.
In his letter on Thursday, Garber stated that Harvard will stand up for its foreign students.
In the updated case, the institution claimed that it hurts all of its students since Harvard “prepares them to contribute to and lead in our global society.”
“International students and scholars make outstanding contributions inside and outside of our classrooms and laboratories, fulfilling our mission of excellence in countless ways,” Garber stated. “We will celebrate them, support them, and defend their interests as we continue to assert our Constitutional rights.”
