Judge White, in his decision, said the US administration has “wreaked havoc” on the lives of the plaintiffs and international students. While many international students have successfully challenged the Trump administration individually, securing their own stay in the country, the injunction is the first to provide relief to foreign students nationwide.
Judge White’s injunction came just minutes after US President Donald Trump revoked Harvard University’s permission to enrol international students while also directing the current students to transfer to other schools or leave the country. However, the injunction only applies to individual students and not institutions.The judge’s order convinced many that the university’s SEVP status was intact. However, the two cases are unrelated, according to a report from TheCrimson.com — the website version of The Harvard Crimson, the country’s oldest continuously published daily college newspaper.
It cited five immigration lawyers saying that the California case addressed individual students who had their visas revoked by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement post criminal record checks, and not changes to a university status. However, the order on Thursday prohibits Harvard entirely from enrolling international students on student visas.
TheCrimson.com report cited immigration lawyers as saying that the next step for the university is to file a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction. This legal measure would prevent the Trump administration from revoking the university’s eligibility to admit foreign students while the federal court determines its legality.
The report, citing eight immigration lawyers, also stated that the students that are set to graduate next week during the Commencement ceremony should be eligible to receive their degrees.
Ever since Trump’s return to the White House in January this year, the US administration has been cracking down on international students across universities, while also targetting Harvard separately, by pulling funding, threatening to strip its tax-exempt status and now revoking its SEVP certification.
It started with Trump signing an executive order on January 29, calling for tougher enforcement of government efforts against antisemitism, post the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, which started the Gaza war, killing over 53,600 Palestinians, so far.
The January 29 order stated that Jewish students had been facing discrimination, denial of access to common areas and facilities on campus, including classrooms and libraries, and were also facing harassment, intimidation, physical threats and assault. It was followed by a multi-agency task force that would combat anti-semitism.
