The Department of Homeland Security will be temporarily barred from preventing Harvard University from enrolling international students, a federal judge ruled on Friday.  

The restraining order is “justified to preserve the status quo,” a United States District Court judge, Allison Burroughs, wrote, granting Harvard’s request to freeze the government’s efforts while the lawsuit plays out in court.

Harvard’s president, Alan Garber, announced on Friday that the school was suing the federal government over the Department of Homeland Security’s move to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students. Mr. Garber chided the ban as an “unlawful and unwarranted action” that “imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard.” 

The complaint, which was filed in federal court on Friday, argues that the government’s action is a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment, constitutional due process, and the Administrative Procedure Act. Harvard paired the lawsuit with a temporary restraining order to block the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing the ban while the lawsuit proceeds in court. 

“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,” the complaint reads. “Harvard’s certification is essential for each of Harvard’s thousands of international students to lawfully remain in this country while they complete coursework, obtain degrees, and continue critical research.” 

The legal challenge comes just one day after 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 move prevents the school from enrolling new foreign students in the 2025-26 academic year and forces those already enrolled to transfer to a new school or risk losing their student visas — and their ability to stay in America legally — come the fall semester. 

“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,” the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, wrote. 

More than 6,000 international students are currently enrolled at Harvard, making up an estimated 27 percent of the student body. International students, who have been hosted at Harvard for more than 70 years, provide an important source of revenue to the school, given that they typically pay the full $56,000 annual tuition and receive no financial aid.

Harvard, in its request to temporarily bar the DHS from following through on the order, maintained that it would cause “immediate and irreparable harm” to the university. 

The complaint further disputes Ms. Noem’s claim that the school shot down DHS’s requests, maintaining, rather, that Harvard “has continuously complied with applicable recordkeeping, retention, and reporting requirements and all other requirements of the governing regulations.” 

The DHS order adds to mounting offensives levied by the current administration against Harvard University. The first big move came in April, when the Department of Justice’s antisemitism task force froze $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard after the school refused to implement a list of broad reforms to quash antisemitism and anti-conservative bias on campus. Harvard is challenging the government in federal court.

Since then, Harvard has fielded retaliation from the government on nearly all fronts — from revoking its tax-exempt status to disqualifying the school from all future federal grants. At the end of April, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission became the sixth federal agency to launch a probe into Harvard, this one going after the school for potentially unlawfully considering race and sex in faculty hiring decisions. 

Harvard’s funding freeze lawsuit against the federal government is scheduled to begin on July 21. Until then, Harvard will be unable to get access to more than $2.7 billion in federal funding.