U.S. Judge Suspends Trump's Ban on Harvard Accepting International Students

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A U.S. federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's order that would have revoked Harvard University's permission to accept or retain foreign students.

U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs issued a temporary restraining order on Friday, May 23, after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) halted certification for the university's foreign students on Thursday, May 22, as reported by NBC News.

The order not only prohibited Harvard from admitting new foreign students but also mandated that international students currently enrolled either transfer or lose their legal status.

With the judge's ruling, foreign students can remain enrolled at the university. The next hearing for the case is scheduled for the following week.

The White House and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Harvard University filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday, just one day after the federal government announced its intent to block the country's oldest university from enrolling foreign students.

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, Harvard argued that the government's action violated the university's First Amendment rights and would severely impact its operational capabilities.

"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," the complaint stated.

The complaint, which named Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Attorney General Pam Bondi among the defendants, accused the government of "clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students."

Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson for Homeland Security, characterized the lawsuit as an attempt to "kneecap the president’s constitutionally vested powers."

"It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments," she said in a statement on Friday.

"The Trump administration is committed to restoring common sense to our student visa system; no lawsuit, this or any other, is going to change that," she added.

On Thursday, the Trump administration had indeed halted certification of Harvard University's Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which would have forced the university's foreign students, approximately a quarter of its total student body, to transfer or lose their legal status.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson stated that "Harvard should use their time and resources to create a safe campus environment." She added, "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."

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