A federal judge late on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order against President Donald Trump’s recently signed executive order banning Harvard from admitting foreign students.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs’ order is an extension of a previous order issued against the administration in May after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attempted to revoke Harvard’s eligibility to host students on foreign visas. Trump’s June 4 executive order attempted to skirt the original ruling against the DHS, preventing any new international students intending to attend Harvard from entering the U.S. and directs the Secretary of State to consider revoking the visas of current foreign Harvard students.
Trump’s order claimed “Harvard has a demonstrated history of concerning foreign ties and radicalism.” Harvard immediately vowed to fight back against the order.
“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,” university president Alan Garber wrote in a community message following the singing of Trump’s order.
Harvard did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
The Obama-appointed judge also oversaw the Harvard v. Students for Fair Admissions case prior to its reaching the Supreme Court, in which Burroughs allowed Harvard to racially discriminate in its admissions policy.
The Trump administration has been targeting the Ivy League university due to its alleged failure to respond to antisemitism on campus and protect Jewish students. Harvard’s own internal investigation found that more than a quarter of Jewish students felt “physically unsafe” on campus and “Almost 60% of Jewish students reported experiencing ‘discrimination, stereotyping, or negative bias.’”
Despite this, Harvard declined to comply with the Trump administration’s demands to reshape its vetting and admissions process for foreign students and reform its disciplinary processes. The university stated it “will not surrender” its academic freedom and free speech rights.
Along with targeting its foreign students, the administration has also revoked billions in federal dollars from Harvard and is working to cut all remaining contracts with the school.
The White House did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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