People walk in Harvard Yard at Harvard University on April 15, 2025, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Photo: AFP

A federal judge on Monday blocked US President Donald Trump's administration from implementing his plan to bar foreign nationals from entering the US to study at Harvard University, Reuters reported.

The order from US District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston preserves the ability of foreign students to travel to the US for study at Harvard while the case is decided, according to AP News.

The preliminary injunction extends a temporary order the judge issued on June 5 that prevented the administration from enforcing a proclamation the US president signed a day earlier that cited national security concerns to justify why Harvard could no longer be trusted to host international students, the Guardian reported.

Trump has sought to cut off Harvard's enrollment of foreign students as part of a pressure campaign seeking changes to governance and policies at the Ivy League school, per AP News. Administration officials also have cut more than $2.6 billion in research grants, ended federal contracts and threatened to revoke the tax-exempt status for the school Trump has derided as a hotbed of liberalism, according to the AP report.

Harvard sued the Department of Homeland Security in May after the agency withdrew the school's certification to host foreign students and issue paperwork for their visas. The action would have forced Harvard's roughly 7,000 foreign students to transfer or risk being in the US illegally.

Global Times