Judge Allison D. Burroughs of a federal court in Boston has reversed the Donald Trump administration’s decision to bar Harvard University’s enrollment of international students.

The Department of Homeland Security, on Thursday, stripped the Ivy League university the right to enroll foreign students on the ground that the school was not doing enough to shield Jewish students from antisemitism even as the Israeli-Gaza war rages.

Harvard, on Friday, sought a restraining order to reverse the decision, arguing the president was mounting a “campaign of retribution” against the school over its refusal to scrutinise the political ideologies of  international students and cancel Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programmes.

Mr Burroughs temporarily sided with Harvard against the Trump administration that barring foreign students will cause the prestigious institution “immediate irreparable injury.”

The court’s decision gives the school temporary reprieve to continue enrolling international students until the suit is determined.

Mr Trump’s grouse with Harvard was that the school did not take decisive action to discourage pro-Palestinine protests at the expense of Jewish students.

Already, Mr Trump has withdrawn billions of dollars in funding from the institution and threatened to remove the tax-exempt status of Harvard University, one of America’s oldest and most prestigious institutions.

Columbia University, another Ivy League institution, was also facing the wrath of Mr Trump’s administration over the same allegation of not protecting Jewish students from pro-Palestine demonstrators.