A federal judge has blocked a Trump administration decision to revoke Harvard University’s ability to enrol international students.
The temporary restraining order stops the government from pulling Harvard’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), which allows the school to host international students with visas to study in the US.
Harvard has sued the Trump administration over its “unlawful and unwarranted” decision to revoke the university’s certification to enrol foreign students, asserting that “without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard”.
Harvard University filed an over 70-page lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts Friday against the Trump administration, including Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice and State Department as well as against the agencies’ leaders, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
“For more than 70 years, Harvard University has been certified by the federal government to enrol international students under the F-1 visa program, and it has long been designated as an exchange program sponsor to host J-1 non-immigrants,” the university said in the lawsuit.
Also read: Trump administration bans foreign student admissions into Harvard University