Judge halts another Trump administration effort to block foreign students from attending Harvard
A federal judge on Monday (June 23, 2025) blocked another effort by the Trump administration to keep international students from attending Harvard University, granting a second preliminary injunction in the case.
The order from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston preserves the ability of foreign students to travel to the U.S. for study at Harvard while the case is decided.
President Donald Trump has sought to cut off Harvard's enrollment of foreign students as part of a pressure campaign seeking changes to governance and policies at the Ivy League school. Administration officials also have cut more than $2.6 billion in research grants, ended federal contracts and threatened to revoke the tax-exempt status for the school Mr. Trump has derided as a hotbed of liberalism.
Harvard sued the Department of Homeland Security in May after the agency withdrew the school's certification to host foreign students and issue paperwork for their visas. The action would have forced Harvard's roughly 7,000 foreign students to transfer or risk being in the U.S. illegally.
The university called it illegal retaliation for rejecting the White House's demands to overhaul Harvard policies around campus protests, admissions, hiring and other issues. Burroughs temporarily had halted the action hours after Harvard sued and then granted the first injunction Friday (June 20, 2025).
The second injunction came in response to another move from Mr. Trump, who cited a different legal justification when he issued a June 4 proclamation blocking foreign students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard. Harvard challenged the move, and Burroughs again had issued a temporary restraining order.
Mr. Trump has been warring with Harvard for months after it rejected a series of government demands meant to address conservative complaints that the school has become too liberal and tolerated anti-Jewish harassment.
On Friday, he said in a post on Truth Social that the administration has been working with Harvard to address 'their largescale improprieties' and that a deal with Harvard could be announced within the next week. 'They have acted extremely appropriately during these negotiations, and appear to be committed to doing what is right,' Mr. Trump's post said.
Foreign students, who account for a quarter of Harvard's enrollment, were brought into the battle in April when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanded Harvard turn over a trove of records related to any dangerous or illegal activity by foreign students. Harvard says it complied, but Noem said the response fell short and on May 22 revoked Harvard's certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
The sanction immediately put Harvard at a disadvantage as it competed for the world's top students, the school said in its lawsuit, and it harmed Harvard's reputation as a global research hub. 'Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,' the suit said.
Harvard president Alan Garber previously said the university has made changes to combat antisemitism. But Harvard, he said, will not stray from its 'core, legally-protected principles,' even after receiving federal ultimatums.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
‘We call on Iran to provide for safety of IAEA personnel': US state secretary Marco Rubio
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday (US local time) said that Iran must ensure the safety and provide security to the International Atomic Energy Agency personnel. Marco Rubio wrote in a post on X, 'We support the IAEA's critical verification and monitoring efforts in Iran."(AFP) In a post on X, Rubio said, "Calls in Iran for the arrest and execution of IAEA Director General Grossi are unacceptable and should be condemned." He added, 'We support the IAEA's critical verification and monitoring efforts in Iran and commend the Director General and the IAEA for their dedication and professionalism. We call on Iran to provide for the safety and security of IAEA personnel.' Earlier this week, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, in his first public remarks since a ceasefire, said Iran had "slapped America in the face" by launching missiles at a major US base in Qatar in retaliation for American strikes on nuclear facilities at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz. Trump had said Khamenei's remarks, which he described as "a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust", prompted him to halt talks on lifting sanctions and other diplomatic efforts that could have aided Iran's recovery. Al Jazeera further reported that Trump made similar bellicose remarks earlier during a White House news conference, where he confirmed he would "without question, absolutely" consider new air strikes if Iran's nuclear programme had not been dismantled. Iran's response to the strikes has included suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that Iran may reject any requests from the agency to inspect nuclear sites, calling Director General Rafael Grossi's insistence on visits "meaningless and possibly even malign in intent." No IAEA inspections have taken place since June 13, when Israel began bombing Iranian facilities, Al Jazeera reported.
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Bunker-buster bombs ‘ineffective' against Iran's Isfahan nuclear facility; Top US general reveals why
The U.S. military deliberately avoided using bunker-buster bombs on Iran's Isfahan nuclear complex because the site's extreme depth rendered the weapons ineffective, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine confirmed in a classified Senate briefing. Isfahan's underground facilities reportedly store 60% of Iran's enriched uranium, critical for bomb development, buried beyond the reach of America's GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs). Instead, submarines launched Tomahawk missiles to strike surface structures. The disclosure, first reported by CNN, underscores tactical limitations against Iran's fortified sites. While B-2 stealth bombers dropped 14 bunker-busters on the shallower Fordow and Natanz facilities, Isfahan's geology demanded alternative tactics. CIA Director John Ratcliffe noted that most of Iran's nuclear material remains concentrated at Isfahan and Fordow, amplifying strategic concerns about untouched uranium reserves. The decision highlights a stark gap between military capabilities and presidential rhetoric. Despite President Trump's claims that strikes "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program, an early Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessment concluded core facilities survived, setting back enrichment only "by months." Satellite imagery analyzed by weapons expert Jeffrey Lewis showed vehicles near Isfahan's tunnels days before the strike, with entrances reopened by June 27, suggesting uranium may have been moved. Technical analyses further indicate bunker-busters would have failed: Fordow's 90-meter depth exceeds the MOP's 25-meter penetration in medium-strength rock. At Isfahan, even 30,000-pound bombs couldn't reach chambers housing centrifuges. "Annihilated is too strong," conceded IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, though he acknowledged "enormous damage" to above-ground infrastructure. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told CNN on Thursday night, after receiving the briefing, that some of Iran's facilities 'are so far underground that we can never reach them. So they have the ability to move a lot of what has been saved into areas where there's no American bombing capacity that can reach it.' Republican lawmakers emerged from briefings acknowledging uranium stocks likely endure but defended the mission's scope. 'There is enriched uranium in the facilities that moves around, but that was not the intent or the mission,' Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas was quoted as telling CNN. 'My understanding is most of it's still there. So we need a full accounting. That's why Iran has to come to the table directly with us, so the (International Atomic Energy Agency) can account for every ounce of enriched uranium that's there. I don't think it's going out of the country, I think it's at the facilities,' McCaul continued. However, White House assertions clash with intelligence: Trump insisted "nothing was moved" pre-strike, despite DIA evidence of relocations and Israel's assessment of a "significant hit" (not total destruction).
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
What's in the latest version of Trump's big bill now before US Senate
At some 940-pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. Now it's up to Congress to decide whether President Donald Trump's signature's domestic policy package will become law. US Senators were working through the weekend to pass the 'Big, Beautiful Bill' and send it back to the House for a final vote. (Getty Images via AFP) Trump told Republicans, who hold majority power in the House and Senate, to skip their holiday vacations and deliver the bill by the Fourth of July. Senators were working through the weekend to pass the bill and send it back to the House for a final vote. Democrats are united against it. Here's the latest on what's in the bill. There could be changes as lawmakers negotiate. Tax cuts are the priority Republicans say the bill is crucial because there would be a massive tax increase after December when tax breaks from Trump's first term expire. The legislation contains roughly $3.8 trillion in tax cuts. The existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill. It temporarily would add new tax breaks that Trump campaigned on: no taxes on tips, overtime pay or some automotive loans, along with a bigger $6,000 deduction in the Senate draft for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year. It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200 under the Senate proposal. Families at lower income levels would not see the full amount. A cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, would quadruple to $40,000 for five years. It's a provision important to New York and other high tax states, though the House wanted it to last for 10 years. There are scores of business-related tax cuts. The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, which would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House's version. Middle-income taxpayers would see a tax break of $500 to $1,500, the CBO said. Money for deportations, a border wall and the Golden Dome The bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump's border and national security agenda, including $46 billion for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and $45 billion for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to fulfill his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history. Money would go for hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year. The homeland security secretary would have a new $10 billion fund for grants for states that help with federal immigration enforcement and deportation actions. The attorney general would have $3.5 billion for a similar fund, known as Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide, or BIDEN, referring to former Democratic President Joe Biden. To help pay for it all, immigrants would face various new fees, including when seeking asylum protections. For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system. The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security. How to pay for it? Cuts to Medicaid and other programs To help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans aim to cut back some long-running government programs: Medicaid, food stamps, green energy incentives and others. It's essentially unraveling the accomplishments of the past two Democratic presidents, Biden and Barack Obama. Republicans argue they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse. The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children 14 and older would have to meet the program's work requirements. There's also a proposed new $35 co-payment that can be charged to patients using Medicaid services. Some 80 million people rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama's Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. Most already work, according to analysts. All told, the CBO estimates that under the House-passed bill, at least 10.9 million more people would go without health coverage and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps. The Senate proposes a $25 billion Rural Hospital Transformation Program to help offset reduced Medicaid dollars. It's a new addition, intended to win over holdout GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warning that the proposed Medicaid provider tax cuts would hurt rural hospitals. Both the House and Senate bills propose a dramatic rollback of the Biden-era green energy tax breaks for electric vehicles. They also would phase out or terminate the various production and investment tax credits companies use to stand up wind, solar and other renewable energy projects. In total, cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs would be expected to produce at least $1.5 trillion in savings. Trump savings accounts and so, so much more A number of extra provisions reflect other GOP priorities. The House and Senate both have a new children's savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury. The Senate provided $40 million to establish Trump's long-sought 'National Garden of American Heroes.' There's a new excise tax on university endowments. A $200 tax on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was eliminated. One provision bars money to family planning providers, namely Planned Parenthood, while $88 million is earmarked for a pandemic response accountability committee. Another section expands the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, a hard-fought provision from Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, for those impacted by nuclear development and testing. Billions would go for the Artemis moon mission and for exploration to Mars. The bill would deter states from regulating artificial intelligence by linking certain federal AI infrastructure money to maintaining a freeze. Seventeen Republican governors asked GOP leaders to drop the provision. Also, the interior secretary would be directed to sell certain Bureau of Land Management acreage to provide for housing, but senators said that measure could be stripped out during the amendment process. Additionally, a provision would increase the nation's debt limit, by $5 trillion, to allow continued borrowing to pay already accrued bills. What's the final cost? Altogether, keeping the existing tax breaks and adding the new ones is expected to cost $3.8 trillion over the decade, the CBO says in its analysis of the House bill. An analysis of the Senate draft is pending. The CBO estimates the House-passed package would add $2.4 trillion to the nation's deficits over the decade. Or not, depending on how one does the math. Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost because those breaks are already 'current policy.' Senators say the Senate Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for the preferred approach. Under the Senate GOP view, the tax provisions cost $441 billion, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Democrats and others say this is 'magic math' that obscures the true costs of the GOP tax breaks. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget puts the Senate tally at $4.2 trillion over the decade.
