Judge Blocks Trump Admin From Banning Foreign Students at Harvard

(Steven Senne/AP photo)

A federal judge has stepped in to stop the Trump administration’s bid to ban foreign students from attending Harvard.

The ruling was handed down on Friday, hours after the university announced it would be suing the White House’s bid to bar all international students from attending the Ivy League institution.

“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 lawsuit read. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”

The temporary restraining order was the work of U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, a Barack Obama appointee who also famously slapped a hold on President Donald Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban” in 2017.

Harvard’s international students make up 27% of the student enrollment in the most recent school year, according to CNN.

Harvard and the Trump administration have been at war for months, with the White House threatening to ax the school’s federal funding and tax-exempt status if it refuses to purge pro-Palestinian protesters and kill DEI programs.