For the second time in three days, a federal judge in Boston rejected efforts by the Trump administration to bar international students at Harvard, blocking a presidential proclamation that would prevent new students from abroad from enrolling at the school.
President Trump had sought to bar the students using a law designed to safeguard national security. In a strongly worded ruling on Monday, Judge Allison D. Burroughs sided with lawyers for Harvard who had argued that such presidential power was intended to be used against foreign enemies, not international students.
The judge’s order temporarily stops the presidential proclamation from going into effect. Judge Burroughs, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, issued a similar decision on Friday. In that ruling, she temporarily blocked another effort by the Trump administration to keep international students out of Harvard through other means.
In her ruling on Monday, Judge Burroughs noted that the issues at stake involved “core constitutional rights that must be safeguarded — freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and freedom of speech” and that free speech, particularly in the academic arena, “must be zealously defended and not taken for granted.”
She continued: “The government’s misplaced efforts to control a reputable academic institution and squelch diverse viewpoints seemingly because they are, in some instances, opposed to this administration’s own views, threaten these rights.”
She also chastised the government’s attempts “to accomplish this, at least in part, on the backs of international students, with little thought to the consequences to them or, ultimately, to our own citizens.”
Both of the judge’s orders will remain in effect until Harvard’s lawsuit over the enrollment of international students is resolved. In one section of Monday’s ruling, the judge attacked the logic of the Trump administration’s argument as “absurd,” and in another cited the administration’s “escalating rhetoric.”
White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Harvard, in a statement, said that it would “continue to defend its rights — and the rights of its students and scholars.”
The government’s moves against Harvard have thrown the lives of thousands of visiting scholars into temporary disarray.
But the ruling by Judge Burroughs preserves, at least for now, Harvard’s tradition of hosting international students, permitting about 7,000 Harvard students and recent graduates to continue studying and working legally in the United States.
Harvard’s leadership has accused the Trump administration of a partisan vendetta against the university, one of the nation’s wealthiest and most selective, as Mr. Trump continues to attack both elite universities and their ties with foreign entities.
After last week’s order, Mr. Trump issued a statement on social media indicating that talks were underway in an effort to settle the lawsuit.
The legal fight between President Trump and Harvard began in April, after the administration accused the school of promoting liberal thinking and submitted an intrusive list of demands to transform admissions, curriculum and hiring at the private institution to align with more conservative ideology.
Rather than complying, Harvard sued. The administration responded by freezing or canceling nearly $3 billion in federal grants and scientific research contracts with the university, in Cambridge, Mass.
A separate lawsuit from Harvard, also pending before Judge Burroughs in Boston, seeks to restore that funding.
The dispute over international students began in May, when the Department of Homeland Security said it was rescinding Harvard’s right to participate in the Student Visitor Exchange Program, a program through which international students are granted visas to come to the United States.
Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, said the action was necessary because Harvard had failed to comply with requests for information on misconduct by the university’s international students, a charge that Harvard denied.
The university sued the administration to preserve its right to enroll international students. Judge Burroughs temporarily blocked enforcement of the Trump administration’s order.
Undeterred by the judge’s orders, Mr. Trump issued the proclamation on June 4, invoking an authority granted by the Immigration and Nationality Act, a 1952 law banning entry to individuals whose presence would be detrimental to the United States.
The power can apply to immigrants with communicable diseases and criminal records, or who might be security risks. The president said he was using it against prospective students at Harvard because “Harvard’s conduct rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers.”
Ian H. Gershengorn, a lawyer for Harvard, argued during a court hearing last week that the law had been used fewer than 100 times since its passage. He said it had never been invoked against an American entity — except Harvard.
“It is important to recognize how broad and unprecedented this assertion of executive authority is,” Mr. Gershengorn wrote in a brief submitted in the case. “The president is claiming unlimited authority to leverage his power over the border as a means of targeting domestic activity that he disfavors.”
The proclamation claimed misconduct by foreign students at Harvard to justify the ban and accused the university of failing to police and report crimes. It also accused the university of “entanglements with foreign counties, including our adversaries,” specifically referencing donations to Harvard from Chinese entities.
Faculty members at Harvard have described any loss of international students as potentially devastating to the university. About 25 percent of students are from outside the United States.
School officials, in court documents, have described a “palpable sense of fear, confusion, and uncertainty on Harvard’s campus about the future of its international students” as well as worldwide travel disruptions affecting international students in the wake of the administration’s orders.
Stephanie Saul reports on colleges and universities, with a recent focus on the dramatic changes in college admissions and the debate around diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education.
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