The Trump administration’s plan to strip Harvard University of its ability to enrol foreign students has been halted for now after a judge issued a temporary restraining order.

According to the BBC, US District Judge Allison Burroughs issued a temporary restraining order in a short ruling on Friday. This pauses a move that the Department of Homeland Security made on Thursday to revoke Harvard’s access to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) − a government database that manages foreign students.

The next hearing will occur on 29 May in Boston.

This came after Harvard filed a lawsuit − the latest escalation of a dispute between the White House and one of America’s most prestigious institutions.

The university said the administration’s decision to bar international students was a “blatant violation” of the law and free speech rights.

While the Trump administration has said Harvard has not done enough to fight antisemitism, and change its hiring and admissions practices – allegations the university has strongly denied – Harvard said in its lawsuit: “”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 President Alan Garber said in a letter: “We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action.

“The revocation continues a series of government actions to retaliate against Harvard for our refusal to surrender our academic independence and to submit to the federal government’s illegal assertion of control over our curriculum, our faculty, and our student body,” he wrote.

In response, White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson said: “If only Harvard cared this much about ending the scourge of anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist agitators on their campus they wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with.”

After Friday’s restraining order was issue, Jackson also turned on the court itself: “These unelected judges have no right to stop the Trump Administration from exercising their rightful control over immigration policy and national security policy.”

[Image: https://www.thenewleam.com/harvard-is-suing-the-white-house-heres-what-trump-hopes-to-achieve-by-targeting-universities/]


author