On Monday, a judge extended the block on the Trump administration’s ban on international students at Harvard.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, in early June, set a temporary restraining order in place after Trump issued a proclamation suspending the entry of international students to Harvard. The prestigious university sued the administration claiming that the proclamation was a violation of the First Amendment.
“With the stroke of a pen, the DHS Secretary and the President have sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission and the country,” the school said in one of its filings. Harvard also asserted that the proclamation was the result of a personal vendetta against the school and not in the interest of national security.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, responded to the legal defeat saying that the ability to accept foreign students was not a right.
“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; that fact hasn’t changed,” McLaughlin said.
She also repeated what the administration has asserted at its outset and said that the ruling was an attempt to “kneecap” the president’s powers under the Constitution.
The judge has decided to extend the block until June 23 and determine whether she will extended it until Harvard goes to trial against the administration.
Approximately 25% or about 7,000 students at Harvard are international students. The administration-initiated fight between the school and the government has some international students worried about their future.
“The court hearing is a very big deal for international students,” says Alfred Williamson, a Harvard student from Wales in the United Kingdom. “The part that is most frustrating and scary is that there’s nothing we can do to influence the outcome. We just have to sit here and wait and cross our fingers.”
Harvard has vowed to continue accepting international students in light of the block.
