A federal judge has blasted the Trump administration’s attempts to stop Harvard from enrolling international students as a “blatant violation of the Constitution.”
The temporary restraining order was granted by U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, who agreed with the university that Harvard had shown that the move would do “immediate and irreparable injury” to the institution.
In its lawsuit filed earlier Friday in federal court in Boston, the Ivy League university 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.”
Harvard accused the Trump administration of a “campaign of retribution” in the lawsuit.
“We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action,” Dr. Alan M. Garber, Harvard’s president, wrote in a letter addressing students and staff Friday. He added the Trump administration’s efforts “imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard and serves as a warning to countless others at colleges and universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their education and fulfill their dreams.”
The administration has waged a pressure campaign against the nation’s oldest school in an escalating effort to bend institutions to the president’s ideologically driven demands.
The Department of Homeland Security claims Harvard “has created an unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students, and otherwise obstruct its once-venerable learning environment.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused the university of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.”
This week a a federal judge also blocked the Trump administration from revoking legal status for international students nationwide while a legal challenge is ongoing.
The order from California District Judge Jeffrey White blocks the government from arresting or jailing students over their legal status after the administration “wreaked havoc” on the lives of hundreds of foreign students studying in the United States.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
