Judge Extends Order Blocking Trump From Barring Foreign Students At Harvard

A federal judge extended an order blocking U.S. President Donald Trump administration’s attempt to bar Harvard from enrolling foreign students on Thursday.

The extension from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs came after she imposed a temporary restraining order on government action last week after the Trump administration announced it was revoking Harvard’s ability to enroll international students on Thursday, May 22.

The latest order from Burroughs was issued as Harvard’s Class of 2025 assembled for Commencement exercises on Thursday, giving relief, at least temporarily, to the school’s thousands of international students.

Harvard is suing the Department of Homeland Security following Secretary Kristi Noem‘s order to terminate Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification effective for the 2025-2026 school year, which would mean the school would no longer be able to host foreign students on its campus in Cambridge, Mass.

In her initial letter to Harvard about student visa eligibility, Noem said that Harvard was “hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies,” according to the BBC.

In its lawsuit, Harvard argues that revoking visa certifications is “the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students,” according to the BBC.

“The administration is making clear that they are going after Harvard on account of viewpoints it’s ascribing to Harvard students and faculty and the institution itself,” Will Creeley, the  Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression legal director, said, according to the BBC.

“The smoking gun is very smoky indeed, it’s right out there,” he said.

Speakers at Harvard’s commencement referenced the school’s diversity and willingness to stand up against the government, both directly and indirectly—President Alan Garber was met with applause when he said the school’s global reach was “just as it should be,” according to CBC.

On Wednesday, “Class Day” speaker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar lauded Harvard President Garber for his actions.

“After seeing so many cowering billionaires, media moguls, law firms, politicians and other universities bend their knee to an administration that is systematically strip-mining the U.S. Constitution, it is inspiring to me to see Harvard University take a stand for freedom,” Abdul-Jabbar said, according to CBC.

Despite the restraining order, the efforts of the Trump administration have created an environment of “profound fear, concern and confusion” for international students,” Harvard’s Director of Immigration Services, Maureen Martin, reportedly said in a court filing on Wednesday.

If the Trump administration were to successfully bar foreign students from attending Harvard, it would potentially impact seven returning members of the Harvard swim & dive teams.

Underclassmen with international hometowns on Harvard’s 2024-2025 Swimming & Diving rosters

The men’s team also has at least four international swimmers slated to join them next season: Ognjen Pilipovic of Serbia, Maro Miknic and Vito Rados of Croatia, and Mark Iltsisin of Estonia.