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Updated May 31, 2025, at 2:41 a.m.
BOSTON — A federal judge on Thursday upheld a block on the Trump administration’s attempt to end Harvard’s enrollment of international students while the University’s lawsuit against the federal government proceeds in court.
The order, issued as Harvard’s Class of 2025 assembled in Harvard Yard for Commencement exercises, grants a measure of relief to thousands of international students across the University whose legal status has been up in the air for weeks. The Department of Homeland Security informed Harvard last week that its foreign students must either transfer or face deportation as part of the Trump administration’s escalating campaign against the University.
U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs told lawyers for the federal government and Harvard at a Thursday hearing in Boston that she views a judicial order to halt the administration’s action as “necessary.”
“I want to maintain the status quo,” Burroughs said, before briefly recessing the courtroom to meet privately with lawyers for both sides.
Burroughs ruled to maintain the terms of last week’s temporary restraining order, which froze the revocation and preserved the status of foreign students. The TRO will stay in place until a broader injunction is agreed upon.
“Harvard will continue to take steps to protect the rights of our international students and scholars, members of our community who are vital to the University’s academic mission and community — and whose presence here benefits our country immeasurably,” a spokesperson for the University wrote in a statement.
Harvard will retain its ability to enroll international students at least until the next hearing date, which has yet to be scheduled.
An extended pause will give Harvard and the defendants — including the DHS and four other federal agencies — time to draft a formal preliminary injunction halting the administration’s move, as requested by Burroughs.
“I do think an order is necessary. It doesn’t need to be draconian, but I want to be sure it is worded in a way that nothing changes,” Burroughs said.
But at the hearing, Trump administration lawyers also indicated that the government may back down from plans to immediately revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students and instead pursue a longer process.
Lawyers for the Trump administration filed a notice of intent to withdraw late Wednesday night, delivering the filing to the Harvard International Office around 11:50 p.m., according to Harvard lawyer Ian H. Gershengorn ’88.
The Trump administration first revoked Harvard’s certification with the Student and Exchange Visa Program — the federal system allowing universities to enroll international students — status in a May 22 letter, effective immediately. The letter offered no appeal process, leaving the status of current and prospective international students uncertain as the University launched into its second legal clash with the federal government.
But the Trump administration’s Wednesday filing suggests that the DHS may fear the judge will decide the initial revocation bypassed procedural steps. The letter — a formal notice that the DHS intends to withdraw Harvard’s eligibility — initiates a longer process, giving Harvard the customary 30-day response time to demonstrate compliance with the law.
After 30 days, the DHS could then revoke Harvard’s SEVP certification if it still claims that Harvard broke the law, unless a preliminary injunction is granted.
A day after Burroughs’ choice to extend the TRO, the Trump administration continued to push the legality of its moves. In a Friday statement, White House spokesperson Abigail T. Jackson wrote that the administration was confident its actions were lawful and suggested the courts did not have power over how the executive branch allocates SEVP status.
“The Trump Administration — not liberal, unelected judges — has final say over whether or not universities receive SEVP certification,” Jackson wrote on Friday.
The change of course comes amid a monthlong dispute over a sweeping records request by the Trump administration to Harvard that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem alleges the University has not fully complied with.
The requested records included information on students’ protest participation, involvement in violence or criminal activity, and disciplinary histories.
The Wednesday filing accuses Harvard of not only failing to provide adequate information in response to the records request, but also of fostering antisemitism on campus and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party and “other foreign adversaries.”
Harvard maintains that it handed over all the information “required by law” in April, but has not disclosed the exact nature of the materials it shared with the department.
—Staff writer Matan H. Josephy can be reached matan.josephy@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @matanjosephy.
—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart.
