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A federal judge in the United States has blocked the department of homeland security order barring Harvard University from enrolling international students.
Jeffrey White, the US district judge, halted the decision as Kristi Noem, secretary of the department of homeland security, made the order public on Thursday.
White also barred the US government from arresting, incarcerating or transferring foreign students elsewhere, pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging the termination of the legal status of several such students.
Between March and April, over 4,700 international students had their permission to study in the US cancelled abruptly.
Some two dozen students filed a court case to challenge the decision.
The move to bar foreign students came days after US Vice-President JD Vance said immigrants on student visas would be deported if the US determined that their stay was not in the best interest of the country.
Vance blamed foreign students for taking up spots in high-ranking universities at the expense of native Americans, a development he vowed that the Donald Trump-led administration would rectify.
The US government’s clash with Harvard University is part of broader discontent over rising immigration levels.