A court on Thursday temporarily blocked US President Donald Trump's latest attempt to block the admission of foreign students to Harvard University. US District Judge Alison Burroughs ruled on Thursday that the government cannot enforce Trump's declaration.
Burroughs himself previously ordered a halt to Trump's earlier efforts to block international student admissions. Recently, the relationship between President Trump and Harvard has been strained regarding foreign students.
The announcement issued by the White House on Wednesday night prevented the majority of new international students at Harvard from entering the US, and it was said that the visas of existing foreign students who had been enrolled were also at risk of being revoked. "Harvard's conduct has made it an inappropriate destination for foreign students and researchers," the White House order said.
But Harvard also commented that the White House's latest move is "part of the government's retaliatory campaign." "This is not the first attempt to separate Harvard from its international students."
Harvard then further explained in the complaint filed in federal court, "The recent steps of the Trump administration are part of a growing retaliation campaign by the government to control Harvard's administration, curriculum, and the ideology of its professors and students."
The government had already announced a cut of about $3.2 billion in federal grants and contracts that benefit Harvard, leaving the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based institution out of any future federal funding. President Trump has become angry with Harvard after the university rejected the government's call to submit Harvard's curriculum, staff, student recruitment data and approach.
Trump has also targeted international students at Harvard, who account for 27 percent of total enrollment in the 2024-025 academic year and are a major source of income. Universities have been accused by Trump and his allies of being hotbeds of anti-Semitism, liberal bias and "woke" ideology. The US Secretary of Education has also threatened to revoke Columbia University's accreditation on Wednesday. But many top institutions, including Columbia, have bowed to the Trump administration's demands.
