Before a federal audience against the capacity of the University of Harvard to register international students, the acting director of immigration and the application of American customs published on Thursday a letter giving the school 30 days to challenge the revocation by the administration of this certification.
The letter officially informs the school that its certification of the program of students and exchanges of visitors would be withdrawn – but in return from the previous position of the administration by giving Harvard 30 days to obtain compliance.
“Your school has 30 calendar days from the date of service of this notice to submit written representations under oath and supported by documentary evidence, explaining the reasons why SEVP should not withdraw the certification of your school,” said the opinion. “If SEVP certification is withdrawn, your school will no longer be approved to register or continue to educate non -immigrant students.”
The opinion comes a week after the interior security secretary Kristi Noem announced that she had ordered the cessation of the SEVP certification of the school.
“Following your refusal to comply with several requests to provide the relevant information from the Ministry of Internal Security while perpetuating a dangerous campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and uses racist diversity, equity and inclusion,” you lost this privilege, “wrote last week in a university.
During a hearing on Thursday shortly after the Trump administration published its 30 -day notice, US District Judge Allison Burroughs said that she was planning to issue a preliminary injunction which prohibits the Trump administration from revoking Harvard SEVP certification without first going through the legally required procedure.
“I think that an order is necessary. It does not need to be draconian, but I want to make sure that nothing changes. I want to maintain the status quo,” said the judge at the hearing, which took place as thousands of Harvard students and their families met for the start of the school.
Students applaud at the start of Harvard University ceremonies on May 29, 2025 in Cambridge, Mass.
Charles Krupa / AP
For the moment, judge Burroughs said that a temporary ban it made last week will remain in place until a preliminary injunction is distributed.
Burroughs said that despite the Trump administration back, she said that a order was necessary to protect international students from Harvard.
“I would feel more comfortable given what preceded this,” she said during the 20-minute hearing. “This offers some protection to international students who are looking forward to coming here.”
The lawyer for the Ministry of Justice, Tiberius Davis, postponed the ban, claiming that the question had actually become “aimless” since the Trump administration changed CAP.
“The ministry decided that it would be better, simpler in the future, to go through the procedure,” said Davis.
Despite the change, Harvard lawyer Ian Gershengorn said that a ban order was still necessary, arguing that the Trump administration illegally violated the rights to the school’s first amendment by retalling against school for its decision not to move other requests from the government. He called the recent opinion “the next step” of the Trump administration campaign to retaliate against school.
“There seems to be a different set of rules, procedures for Harvard,” he said. “The damage to the first amendment we suffer are real and continue.”
Judge Burroughs suggested that the parties could end up returning to court in a few months, once the legal process took place, to determine if the potential revocation is late.
“At this point, we believe that the case would be very different,” said Davis.
Distant that the actions of the Trump administration are part of a “campaign to force Harvard to make his rights as a first amendment”, Harvard alleged that the revocation of the SEVP is illegal because it violates the rights to the freedom of expression of the school; that politics is arbitrary and therefore violates the law on administrative procedure; And that the policy is brutal on the protections of the regular school procedure, because it did not have the possibility of responding to the revocation.
“The surrounding events and the express declarations of the defendants clearly indicate that the Ministry of Internal Security took these actions not for any valid reason, but purely as a punishment for Harvard’s speech, its perceived point of view and its refusal to renounce its academic independence or to renounce its constitutional rights,” said school in his trial against the administration of Trump.
A graduate student carries his hat, decorated with a declaration of support for international students, during the 374th starting exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 29, 2025.
Brian Snyder / Reuters
“This is the last act of the government in clear reprisals for Harvard exercising its first amendment rights to reject the government’s requests to control Harvard’s governance, the study program and the ideology of its teachers and students,” said the trial.
DHS officials said the revocation was necessary because Harvard had not given information on international students – including disciplinary files – as requested by the Trump administration.
“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to register foreign students and to benefit from their higher tuition fees to help win their endowments of several billion dollars. Harvard had the opportunity to do the right thing. He refused.” DHS secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement last week.
Harvard also fights the Trump administration attempt to freeze more than $ 2.2 billion in grants and $ 60 million in school contracts. Harvard filed a separate complaint to contest the freeze freezing in April, and the next hearing in this case is set for July.
Trump has continued to increase the pressure on school in the past two months, threatening to revoke the school’s tax exemption status, ordering his administration to cancel contracts with the school and continue to demand information on international students. Addressing journalists on Wednesday, Trump suggested that Harvard should cap the number of international students at 15% of the Total Student Corps of the School.
“We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools, they cannot enter because we have foreign students there. But I want to make sure that foreign students are people who can love our country,” said Trump.
