A federal judge in Massachusetts said Thursday that she plans to grant a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Trump administration from revoking Harvard University’s ability to have international students.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said in a hearing Thursday that she plans to issue the preliminary injunction Harvard requested, and extended a temporary restraining order that prohibits the administration from following through on its threat.
Harvard is trying to stop the Trump administration’s effort to restrict foreign students from enrolling and attending, at least temporarily, as it sues the Department of Homeland Security. DHS has said existing foreign students at Harvard must transfer or lose their legal status in the U.S. Attorneys for Harvard are making their case in federal court in Massachusetts, as the Trump administration targets Harvard’s federal funding and students.
The Trump administration is giving Harvard University 30 days to contest its efforts to effectively end foreign student enrollment at the institution, according to a DHS notice issued Thursday.
The notice to the school said Harvard had 30 days to provide evidence to rebut the administration’s effort to end Harvard’s use of the Student Exchange and Visitor Program.
The Ivy League institution’s commencement ceremony is also being held on Thursday. Harvard’s president, Alan Garber, received a standing ovation and an exuberant round of applause as he took the podium.
“You, you are the hope of this institution, embodied,” Garber told the graduates Thursday morning. “Living proof that our mission changes not only the lives of individuals, but also the trajectories of the communities that you will join, serve and lead. May you carry the best of what Harvard is and does into the world that awaits you.”