Judge temporarily blocks Trump ban on foreign students at Harvard

NEW YORK: A US judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s move to bar foreign students from Harvard University amid a worsening fight between the White House and the elite university, a court filing showed.

“The Trump administration is hereby enjoined from implementing… the revocation of Plaintiff’s SEVP (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) certification,” ordered judge Allison Burroughs.

US President Donald Trump’s administration earlier revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students and is forcing current foreign students to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status, while also threatening to expand the crackdown to other colleges.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered the department to terminate Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification effective for the 2025-2026 school year, the department said in a statement.

Noem accused the university of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.”

Harvard said the move by the Trump administration – which affects thousands of students – was illegal and amounted to retaliation.

The decision marked a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign against the elite Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has emerged as one of Trump’s most prominent institutional targets. The move came after Harvard refused to provide information that Noem demanded about some foreign student visa holders at Harvard, the department said.