Obama judge blocks Trump —  gives Harvard, foreign nationals what they want at America's expense



A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from ending the ability of Harvard University to enroll international students for ignoring a demand for information.

President Donald Trump significantly escalated his feud with the university on Thursday, when the administration said it would revoke Harvard's certification for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program that allowed the school to enroll international students.

'With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body. ... Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.'

The university filed a lawsuit in Boston against the decision on the basis that it violated the First Amendment of the Constitution, and U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs granted a temporary restraining order.

The order would have significantly cut into the student body at Harvard, as about 27% are international students.

“With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission,” read the university's lawsuit. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”

The lawsuit claimed the order would have an “immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had requested information from the university in relation to violent and illegal activities from foreign students and gave the officials a deadline of April 30.

“Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students, and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status," read a statement from DHS.

The university claimed that it provided "thousands of data points" to the government, but Noem said they did not satisfy the request.

RELATED: Trump escalates war against Harvard by shutting down visas for international students

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“It makes generalized statements about campus environment and ‘anti-Americanism,’ again without articulating any rational link between those statements and the decision to retaliate against international students,” read the lawsuit.

Harvard is also fighting the administration in a separate lawsuit against a Trump order cutting billions in federal funding to the university.

"The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families, is coming to an end," said Harrison Fields, a spokesperson for the White House. "Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege."

Burroughs was nominated by former President Barack Obama in 2014.

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Trump escalates war against Harvard by shutting down visas for international students



President Donald Trump escalated his feud with Harvard University on Thursday when he shut down visas for international students headed to the prestigious institution.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent a letter to Harvard President Alan Garber notifying him that the university's certification for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program was ended, "effective immediately."

'Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that want to enjoy the privilege of enrolling foreign students, that the Trump administration will enforce the law.'

Noem had demanded the university produce evidence of "illegal and violent activities" of international students or risk losing privileges granted by the federal government. She had given them a deadline of April 30.

A month later, the DHS confirmed that “Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students, and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status."

Jason Newton, a spokesperson for Harvard, told the Crimson that the action was "unlawful" and said the university was “fully committed” to continuing to admit international students.

“This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission,” said Newton.

Noem specifically tied the visa program revocation to Harvard's refusal to follow the administration's request.

"This action should not surprise you and is the unfortunate result of Harvard's failure to comply with simple reporting requirements," said Noem in the letter.

RELATED: Harvard University lawsuit claims Trump violated free speech rights with billion-dollar funding cuts

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

"Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that want to enjoy the privilege of enrolling foreign students, that the Trump administration will enforce the law and root out the evils of anti-Americanism and antisemitism in society and campuses," she added.

She gave Harvard 72 hours to comply with her demands in order to regain certification for the international student program for the next academic school year.

Harvard has about 7,000 international students, or about 27% of the entire student body, according to NPR.

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Trump shuts down millions of dollars in federal research grants to Harvard



The Trump administration announced Monday that it would end all new federal research grants for Harvard University, as the feud between the president and the university continued.

Education Dept. Secretary Linda McMahon excoriated the university in a scathing letter sent to their president, according to the New York Times.

'Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege.'

The letter mocked the "embarrassing" remedial math program offered to students and the plagiarism scandals that have plagued some university officials.

"Harvard University has made a mockery of this country's higher education system," McMahon wrote. "It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus. In every way, Harvard has failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities, and any semblance of academic rigor. It had scrapped standardized testing requirements and a normalized grading system."

Harvard has filed a lawsuit against the administration over federal funds that were cut to the university over accusations that they had not done enough to curtail intimidation and violence against Jewish students by pro-Palestinian protesters.

"The government has not — and cannot — identify any rational connection between anti-Semitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen that aims to save American lives, foster American success, preserve American security, and maintain America's position as a global leader in innovation," reads the lawsuit.

A previous statement from a Trump spokesperson said the university did not deserve to receive the funds.

"The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families is coming to an end," said spokesperson Harrison Fields. "Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege."

The Times reported that federal funding accounted for about 11% of the university's revenues in 2024, or about $687 million.

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Trump admin asks IRS to rescind Harvard's tax-exempt status



The Department of Justice asked the Internal Revenue Service to escalate President Donald Trump's war against Harvard University by revoking the institution's tax-exempt status.

CNN reported that two sources familiar with the matter said the IRS was looking into the possibility after the Trump administration froze billions in federal funding to Harvard on Tuesday. Fox News then confirmed that the DOJ had asked the IRS to follow through.

'Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges.'

Harvard has been resisting orders from the president to take action against anti-Semitism and other discriminatory practices on campus. University officials said the orders are unconstitutional, and they refused to accept the command from the president.

"The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights," said legal counsel on Monday. "Harvard will not accept the government's terms as an agreement in principle."

The president has been lobbing insults at Harvard from his social media account.

"Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and 'birdbrains' who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called 'future leaders.' Look just to the recent past at their plagiarizing President, who so greatly embarrassed Harvard before the United States States [sic] Congress," read a post from the president.

"Many others, like these Leftist dopes, are teaching at Harvard, and because of that, Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges. Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds."

Some Trump critics pounced on the report to further harangue the administration.

“To my knowledge, this is the first time an administration has tried something like this," said R. William Snyder, a professor at the business college of George Mason University. “The whole purpose of higher education is to educate the masses. Just because they educate in a way that you don’t like, is that grounds to terminate their tax-exempt status? I’d say no.”

"This would not only be blatantly unconstitutional, it would once again represent the Trump right behaving in a way that it said the hard left would behave if it gained power," responded New York Times columnist David French.

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