A federal court will decide on Monday, June 16, 2025, whether to extend a legal order preventing the Trump administration from enforcing a directive that would bar foreign nationals from studying at Harvard University. This follows an ongoing legal dispute over the former president’s broader efforts to limit the university’s operations and international engagement.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs will preside over the hearing in Boston, where she will consider issuing an injunction to stop the administration from carrying out its latest attempt to restrict Harvard’s capacity to host international students. This is while litigation continues over the university’s constitutional challenge to the policy.
Almost 6,800 international students were enrolled at Harvard during its last academic year, accounting for approximately 27% of the institution’s student body. Many of these students come from countries such as China and India.
The upcoming hearing was scheduled after Judge Burroughs issued a temporary restraining order on June 6, halting the implementation of a presidential proclamation signed by Donald Trump just one day earlier.
Trump’s administration has pursued a multi-pronged campaign against the prestigious institution, freezing billions in grants and federal funding, and proposing to revoke its tax-exempt status—moves that have sparked a wave of legal action.
According to Harvard, these actions amount to unconstitutional retaliation in violation of the First Amendment. The university argues that the administration has sought to punish it for resisting efforts to influence its internal governance, academic curriculum, and the ideological orientation of faculty and students.
Harvard has filed two separate lawsuits with Judge Burroughs: one to unfreeze $2.5 billion in government funding and another to block the administration’s attempts to prevent international students from enrolling at the university.
On May 22, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the immediate revocation of Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, which is required for admitting foreign students. However, this decision was quickly blocked by Judge Burroughs. While the Department of Homeland Security later initiated a more formal process to challenge the certification, Burroughs signaled during a May 29 hearing her intent to issue a “broad” injunction to preserve the status quo.
Despite the injunction, President Trump signed a new proclamation a week later, citing national security concerns and asserting that Harvard is “no longer a trustworthy steward of international student and exchange visitor programs.”
The proclamation suspended the entry of foreign nationals planning to study or participate in exchange programs at Harvard for an initial period of six months. It also tasked Secretary of State Marco Rubio with reviewing whether the visas of already-enrolled international students should be revoked.
Harvard has petitioned Judge Burroughs, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, to strike down Trump’s proclamation.
The university contends that the administration has unlawfully “sought to sever Harvard from its international students, with the inevitable and intended effect of wreaking havoc on the Harvard community, throwing into disarray every aspect of campus life.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department has urged Judge Burroughs to treat Trump’s proclamation as a separate legal issue from Secretary Noem’s actions, noting that the directive did not target existing students and was based on different statutory authority.
