University can breathe a sigh of relief for now: Court blocks Trump's Harvard entry ban

The Trump administration no longer wants to allow foreign Harvard students to enter the United States. The elite university calls it a "smear campaign," files a lawsuit, and achieves its first success in court. However, the conflict is not over.

A federal court in the United States has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's travel ban on almost all foreign nationals seeking to study at the elite Harvard University. Judge Allison D. Burroughs stated in his reasoning that the current rules should remain in place until a court hearing.

The university, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has sufficiently demonstrated that it would otherwise "suffer immediate and irreparable harm," Burroughs argued. The stay of the project takes effect upon announcement and remains in effect until further order from the court.

Final outcome is open

This means the university can breathe a sigh of relief in its dispute with the US government, even though the final outcome of the proceedings is not yet foreseeable. The university administration recently filed an appeal against Trump's announcement by expanding an existing lawsuit before the court.

The government accuses several universities, including Harvard, of having a left-liberal orientation and, among other things, claims that insufficient measures have been taken to combat anti-Semitism. Unlike other universities, Harvard is resisting far-reaching political directives from Washington and is taking legal action against them.

Trump announced on Wednesday that the planned travel restrictions would initially apply for six months. The university's behavior makes it an "unsuitable" destination for foreign students and researchers, said the Trump administration, which has been fighting Harvard for months.

Harvard: "Escalating retaliation campaign"

The university rejected his argument that allowing foreign nationals to enter the university to study at the university would be "detrimental to the interests of the United States." According to Trump's announcement, these same individuals would still be allowed to enter the country as long as they didn't want to study at Harvard. Thus, Trump's announcement was merely aimed at pushing through his well-known plan, which is already being legally challenged, the amended complaint stated.

In an addendum to a lawsuit filed in May, the United States' most famous university also accused the Trump administration of a "concerted and escalating campaign of retaliation." Harvard, it argued, should be punished for refusing to allow government control over its leadership, curricula, and the "ideology" of its faculty and students. "This is not the government's first attempt to cut Harvard off from its international students," the university further stated.

Harvard has been fighting the U.S. government's planned ban on international students since last month. Judge Burroughs had already stopped this plan in May – and has now extended this ruling as well. It temporarily prevents the government from prohibiting the university from continuing to accept students from abroad through a special federal program.