A federal judge on Monday issued a preliminary injunction halting enforcement of President Donald Trump’s proclamation that bars foreign nationals from entering the United States through Harvard’s student exchange visa program.
District Judge Allison Burroughs granted Harvard’s request for an injunction to extend a block on enforcement of the June 4 proclamation while litigation is ongoing.
Trump stated in his proclamation that the Chinese Communist Party and other U.S. adversaries are trying to “take advantage of American higher education by exploiting the student visa program for improper purposes and by using visiting students to collect information at elite universities in the United States.”
The proclamation also pointed to a rise in crime rates at Harvard in recent years, alleging that the university had failed to discipline certain categories of conduct violations on campus.
In a 44-page memorandum, Burroughs stated that the proclamation did not establish any connection between the high crime rates at Harvard and the presence of foreign students.
“The proclamation does not state, for example, that the rise in crime is correlated with a rise in the percentage of international students of Harvard, nor does it cite any evidence whatsoever that international students are committing these crimes, statistics which, presumably, would be available to the federal government if they exist,” she wrote.
Burroughs said the case centers on core constitutional rights to freedom of thought, expression, and speech, which she said must be safeguarded as they serve as “a pillar of a functioning democracy and an essential hedge against authoritarianism.”
The judge found that the government’s attempts to exert control over “a reputable academic institution and squelch diverse viewpoints seemingly because they are, in some instances, opposed to this administration’s own views,” are threatening those rights.
“To make matters worse, the government attempts to accomplish this, at least in part, on the backs of international students, with little thought to the consequences to them or, ultimately, to our own citizens,” she stated.
Funding Frozen
Before Trump’s proclamation, the president froze billions in federal funding for medical research at Harvard amid his administration’s crackdown on anti-Semitism and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in higher education.
Harvard challenged the move, arguing that the funding freeze had no connection to the alleged harassment of Jewish students on its campus.
He then issued the proclamation on June 4 to end the university’s visa program for international students, resulting in an additional lawsuit from Harvard.
The proclamation barred foreign nationals from entering the United States to study at Harvard or take part in an exchange visitor program hosted by the university for six months. It also directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to consider whether the visas of foreign nationals already enrolled at Harvard should be revoked.
In a June 5 statement, Harvard President Alan Garber said Trump’s order against student visas was “yet another illegal step taken by the administration to retaliate against Harvard.”
Burroughs issued a preliminary injunction on June 5 to block the proclamation. The latest injunction extended that block until the court reaches a decision.