Exclusive: Harvard Put Lawyers on Standby in Case Immigration Agents Raided Commencement Ceremony

Harvard University officials prepared for the possibility of a Trump administration immigration enforcement raid during Thursday’s commencement ceremony, a source close to the university tells The New York Sun. Harvard’s leaders fretted that the ceremony, which brings together upward of 30,000 graduates, faculty, and family members, might offer the government a convenient opportunity to escalate its crackdown on foreign students, the source says. As part of a contingency plan, university officials readied a team of lawyers to swoop in and represent Harvard community members if they were caught in the crosshairs of immigration officials. It appears, however, that the fears were unfounded. Harvard’s commencement ceremony, which kicked off on Thursday morning, proceeded without a hitch. If ICE agents had wanted to get on campus, they would have been required to present a valid warrant and “check in” with the private police agency affiliated with the school, the Harvard University Police Department, according to Harvard’s website. The university directs community members who spot federal immigration authorities on campus to “immediately contact” the agency. Harvard has not yet responded to the Sun’s request to confirm the existence of such a plan. The Harvard community’s outpouring of support for its international members in the wake of the administration’s efforts to curb foreign student enrollment was on full display during Thursday’s ceremony. Hundreds of graduating seniors pinned white flowers to their gowns to show solidarity with their non-American classmates. Some decorated their graduation caps with messages like “protect international students.” The subject was raised repeatedly in the various addresses delivered throughout the day. One commencement speaker, Abraham Verghese, a physician and author, mused that it was “fitting” for the students to “hear from an immigrant like me” at a time when “legal immigrants and others who are lawfully in this country, including so many of your international students, worry about being wrongly detained and even deported.” On the same day, six miles away from Harvard’s campus, a team of lawyers representing the school gathered at a Boston courtroom for a hearing on Harvard’s challenge to the administration’s efforts to prevent the school from enrolling international students.About halfway through Thursday’s commencement ceremony, a U.S. District Court judge, Allison Burroughs, issued a preliminary injunction barring the administration from enforcing its ban as the case proceeds through the court. The court order extends the emergency injunction that she put in place last week. Judge Burroughs’s ruling will allow the university to enroll foreign students for the 2025-26 academic year — at least for now. The process was thrown into doubt last week when the Department of Homeland Security informed Harvard it was stripping the university of its student and exchange visitor program certification due to Harvard’s “failure to comply with simple reporting requirements,” for fostering an “unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students,” and for employing “racist” diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.The next day Harvard sued the administration, claiming that its action was a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment, constitutional due process, and the Administrative Procedure Act. Harvard’s defiant approach to the government — beginning in April when the school rejected a list of policy proposals issued by the administration, placing in limbo billions of dollars in federal funding — has made the university president, Alan Garber, into something of a folk hero on campus. The approval was reflected in the thunderous applause and minute-long standing ovation granted to Mr. Garber as he took the stage to deliver his end-of-year remarks. The community’s warm welcome came in stark contrast to that afforded to President Claire Shipman, acting head of Harvard’s Ivy League compatriot, Columbia University, whose speech last week was drowned out by heckles and boos.

Exclusive: Harvard Put Lawyers on Standby in Case Immigration Agents Raided Commencement Ceremony

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