Harvard international student ban temporarily blocked by judge as Trump launches attack on study visas

A US federal judge has temporarily blocked attempts by the Trump administration to ban Harvard University from enrolling international students, a move which comes amid the US government’s ongoing assault on foreign admissions.  

The Trump administration and Harvard have been engaged in an ongoing row, which has seen the federal government slash over $2.6 billion in funding from the university.

President Trump has accused the Ivy League school of becoming a “hotbed of antisemitism and woke liberal ideology”, with the White House recently seeking to impose restrictions on the university’s freedom through a ban on the enrolment of international students.

Kristi Noem, the US Homeland Security Secretary, shared a copy of the government’s letter to Harvard on X, which outlined that the university was barred “from having any aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status for the 2025-2026 academic school year”.

The order from Judge Burroughs pauses the revoking of Harvard’s access to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, a government database used to manage foreign students

However, the university filed a lawsuit against the government following the ban, arguing its policies violate First Amendment rights and will have an “immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders”.

Less than a day after Harvard filed the lawsuit, Boston District Judge Allison Burroughs blocked Trump’s Harvard international student ban.

The order from Judge Burroughs pauses the revoking of Harvard’s access to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, a government database used to manage foreign students. It also enables the management of study visas crucial to the legal status of Harvard’s international community.

More broadly, the federal government has sought a more restrictive approach to international students desiring higher education in the US in recent months.

The government’s push to restrict academic freedom has also hit Columbia University particularly hard

An internal cable signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, seen by the Associated Press, revealed the immediate cessation of scheduling new student visa interviews amid plans for “an expansion of required social media screening and vetting”.

The government’s push to restrict academic freedom has also hit Columbia University particularly hard.

The US Department of Health and Human Services’s Office for Civil Rights accused the 271-year-old institution of acting with “deliberate indifference towards student-on-student harassment of Jewish students from October 7, 2023, through the present”, directly referencing the October 7th attacks which saw Palestinian militants kill more than 250 people, heightening tensions in the long-standing Israel-Palestine conflict.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration ordered an investigation into pro-Palestine protestors at Columbia, although a federal judge denied the provision of a warrant.

When I left Israel I [thought I] was leaving a conflict zone [but rather] it’s been hard [with] guests speakers here […] questioning my existence

Genia, Jewish student at Harvard

Columbia has already this year made concessions to the government as a pre-condition for the restoration of $400 million in federal funding, including the installation of a new official as Head of the school’s Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies department, whose role is to focus on the Centre for Palestine Studies and Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies.

Trump’s policies have instilled great fear and anxiety among international students. Talking to the BBC, one Jewish Harvard student, Genia, explained that “when I left Israel I [thought I] was leaving a conflict zone”, but rather “it’s been hard” in the US with “guest speakers here […] questioning my existence”.

Another student suggested the university’s ongoing row with the federal government was futile, suggesting “you cannot change a culture”.

The Chinese community has been particularly targeted. The Trump administration’s order attempting to block Harvard’s enrolment of international students suggested the historic institution has been coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party, with swathes of Chinese students booking and then cancelling flights home amid the legal chaos.