Updated June 5, 2025, at 10:34 p.m.
A federal judge granted Harvard’s request for a temporary restraining order hours after the University asked her to block the Trump administration’s Wednesday proclamation banning international students from entering the United States on Harvard-sponsored visas.
The order was issued just four hours after Harvard filed an amended complaint accusing the Trump administration of retaliating against the University by preventing incoming international students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard.
U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs also announced that the court would extend the TRO first granted to Harvard on May 23 — one day after the DHS revoked Harvard’s eligibility to host international students — until June 20, the date requested by the University. Burroughs had already agreed to extend the TRO once before, following a May 29 hearing.
Thursday’s TRO will reinstate international students’ ability to enter the country to attend Harvard until a June 16 hearing scheduled by Burroughs — but the University will need to file for a preliminary injunction to extend its ability to host international students until the court determines its legality in court.
In the amended complaint, Harvard wrote that Trump’s proclamation was “a transparent attempt to circumvent the temporary restraining order this Court already entered against the summary revocation of Harvard’s SEVP certification.”
It argued that — without urgent action — the proclamation would have dramatic costs for admitted students attempting to enter the U.S. and subject current students to fear they would be arbitrarily deported.
Burroughs, in an order published well after working hours Thursday night, deemed that Harvard had made a “sufficient showing” that it would sustain “immediate and irreparable harm” unless a TRO was granted.
But both the TRO — and a future preliminary injunction, if Harvard seeks one and Burroughs rules favorably — are only provisional protections.
The Wednesday order was the latest in a growing standoff between Harvard and the Trump administration, which has launched a flurry of investigations into the University and moved repeatedly to tighten limits on entry for its international students. Harvard is entangled in two lawsuits against the White House — one over the Trump administration’s multibillion dollar funding cuts and the other over the status of its international students.
Burroughs, a Barack Obama appointee, is a familiar face for Harvard in the courtroom. She has previously presided over several high-profile cases involving the University, including a 2021 lawsuit brought by Harvard and MIT challenging an Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy that would have required international students taking online-only classes to leave the U.S.
She is also overseeing Harvard’s first lawsuit against the Trump administration, which challenges the legality of the multibillion dollar cuts in federal funding that have been levied upon the University.
Two weeks ago, she ruled swiftly to instate the first TRO against the Department of Homeland Security’s revocation of Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification. She extended it last week but held off on granting a preliminary injunction until Harvard and the federal government agree on the injunction’s terms.
Several legal experts told The Crimson that, though it was likely the University would be granted temporary relief in lower courts, Harvard would face an uphill battle if the complaint made it to the conservative majority Supreme Court, which upheld an expansive interpretation of presidential authority over immigration and entry restrictions in a 2018 decision.
Harvard will need to prove the Wednesday proclamation was a violation of federal law or its constitutional rights and argue that the action was not warranted on the basis of national security.
—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.
—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.
—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.
—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.
