Before a federal audience on the capacity of Harvard University to register international students, the interim director of the United States immigration confaccion and customs gave a letter on Thursday that gave school 30 days to challenge the revocation of the administration of that certification.
The letter formally notifies the school that would withdraw its certification of visiting programs for students and exchange, but they retreat from the previous position of the administration by giving Harvard 30 days to achieve compliance.
“His school has 30 calendar days from the date of service of this notice to present representations written under oath and supported by documentary evidence, which establishes the reasons why SEVP should not withdraw the certification of his school,” said the notice. “If the Sevp certification is withdrawn, your school will no longer be approved to register or continue to educate non -immigrant students.”
The notice occurs a week after the National Secretary of National Security Kristi Noem announced that he had ordered the termination of the SEVP certification of the school.
“As a result of its refusal to comply with multiple applications to provide relevant information from the Department of National Security while perpetuating an insecure campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, it promotes pro-hamas sympathies and uses racist diversity, equity and inclusion, ‘has lost this privilege,” Noem Last Week did not write in the University Charter.
At a hearing on Thursday, shortly after the Trump administration issued its 30 -day notice, the United States District Judge, Allison Burroughs, said it plans to issue a preliminary judicial order that prohibits the Trump administration from revoking the Harvard SEVP certification without first going through the legally required procedure.
“I think an order is necessary. It is not necessary to be draconian, but I want to make sure that nothing changes. I want to keep the status quo,” said the judge at the audience, which took place when thousands of Harvard students and their families gathered for the beginning of the school.
Students encourage during Harvard University Start Ceremonies, May 29, 2025 in Cambridge, Mass.
Charles Kupa/AP
For now, Judge Burroughs said that a temporary restriction order that issued last week will remain in force until a preliminary court order is solved.
Burroughs said that, despite the recoil of the Trump administration, he felt that an order was necessary to protect Harvard students.
“I would feel more comfortable given what has preceded this,” he said during the 20 -minute audience. “It gives some protection to international students who are eager to come here.”
The lawyer of the Department of Justice, Tiberius Davis, retreated the restriction order, saying that the problem had effectively become “discussing” since the Trump administration changed the course.
“The department has decided that it would be better, simpler in the future, to go through the procedure,” Davis said.
Despite the change, Harvard’s lawyer, Ian Gershengorn, said a restriction order was still necessary, arguing that the Trump administration was illegally violating the rights of the first amendment of the school when taking reprisals against school for its decision not to yield to other government demands. He called the recent notice “The next step” in the Trump administration campaign to retaliate against school.
“There seems to be a different set of rules, Harvard procedures,” he said. “The damages of the first amendment we are suffering are real and continuous.”
Judge Burroughs suggested that the parties could end up returning to the Court in a few months, once the legal process has developed, to determine if the potential revocation is retaliation.
“At that time, we believe the case would be quite different,” Davis said.
Arguing that the actions of the Trump administration are part of a “campaign to force Harvard to deliver their rights of the first amendment,” Harvard claimed that the revocation of the SEVP is illegal because it violates the rights of freedom of expression of the school; that the policy is arbitrary and, therefore, violates the administrative procedure law; and that the policy executes rude about the protections of due process of the school because it was not given the opportunity to respond to the revocation.
“The surrounding events and the express statements of the defendants make it clear that the Department of National Security took these actions not for any valid reason, but purely as a punishment for Harvard’s speech, their perceived point of view and its refusal to deliver their academic independence or renounce their constitutional rights,” the school said in his demand against the Trump administration.
A student who graduated his hat, decorated with a statement of support for international students, during the 374 ° Graduation exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 29, 2025.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
“It is the last act of the government in clear retaliation by Harvard that exercises its rights of the first amendment to reject the government’s demands to control governance, curriculum and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students,” said the demand.
DHS officials have said that the revocation was necessary because Harvard could not deliver information about international students, including disciplinary records, as requested by the Trump administration.
“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to register foreign students and benefit from their highest registration payments to help place their multimillion -dollar endowments. Harvard had many opportunities to do the right thing. He refused.” The secretary of the DHS, Kristi Noem, said in a statement last week.
Harvard is also fighting the Trump administration attempt to freeze more $ 2.2 billion in subsidies and $ 60 million in school contracts. Harvard filed a separate lawsuit to challenge the freezing of funds in April, and the next hearing in that case is scheduled for July.
Trump has continued to increase the pressure on the school in the last two months, threatening to revoke the state -free state of the school, ordering its administration to cancel contracts with the school and continue to demand information about international students. Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Trump suggested that Harvard should limit the number of international students to 15% of the school’s total student body.
“We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools, they can’t enter because we have foreign students there. But I want to make sure foreign students are people who can love our country,” Trump said.
