A federal judge issued a ruling on Friday blocking attempts by the administration of US President Donald Trump to prevent Harvard University from accepting foreign students, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The order by District Judge Alison Burroughs preserves Harvard's ability to accept foreign students until a decision is made on the university's appeal.
Harvard University filed a complaint against the Department of Homeland Security in May after it revoked the institution's certificate to accept foreign students and issue documents for issuing visas for them. This would have forced about 7,000 students from other countries to transfer to other universities or risk remaining in the United States illegally, and would have prevented new international students from enrolling at Harvard.
The university called the department's actions illegal retaliation for rejecting White House demands to change its policies on campus protests, admissions, hiring and other issues.
On Friday, Trump said his administration was working with Harvard University and could announce an agreement next week to resolve the White House's conflict with the nation's oldest and wealthiest university, Reuters reported.
On the X platform, the US president wrote that Harvard "has been acting extremely appropriately during these negotiations and seems committed to doing the right thing."
“If an agreement is reached on the basis that is currently being "It would be incredibly HISTORIC and very good for our country," Trump wrote.
Harvard University has not yet commented on his comments.
Trump has been at odds with Harvard for months after the university rejected a series of government requests to respond to complaints from conservatives that it had become too liberal and tolerated anti-Semitic harassment. The Trump administration has cut more than $2.6 billion in research funding. dollars, terminated government contracts and threatened to revoke Harvard's tax exemption, the Associated Press recalls.
A US federal court in Newark, New Jersey, ruled on Friday that Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil must be immediately released from immigration authorities, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
This is a major victory for human rights groups, which filed a complaint against Khalil's detention, which they consider an illegal repression of a pro-Palestinian activist.
Mahmoud Khalil is a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war in the Gaza Strip. He was detained by immigration agents on March 8 after the U.S. State Department revoked his green card under a rarely used provision of U.S. immigration law that gives the secretary of state the authority to order the deportation of non-citizens whose presence in the country is deemed to be detrimental to U.S. foreign policy interests.
According to the court, the government made no attempt to dispute Khalil's defense claims that he was not a risk of absconding and that he posed no risk to the public.
Syrian-born Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States, is the latest in a series of pro-Palestinian students to be detained and later released by court order.
Despite the order to release him from custody, immigration proceedings against him continue. On Friday, an immigration judge in Louisiana rejected his asylum application and ruled that he could be deported based on the government's allegations of immigration fraud. That decision can be appealed.