Ban on entry of international Harvard students blocked by US judge

The Herald

16 hours ago

Earlier on Thursday, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson called Harvard 'a hotbed of anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist agitators', claims the school has previously denied.
'Harvard's behaviour has jeopardised the integrity of the entire US student and exchange visitor visa system and risks compromising national security. It must face the consequences of its actions,' Jackson said.
Trump cited national security concerns as justification for barring international students from entering the US to pursue studies at the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university.
Under Trump's proclamation, the suspension would initially be for six months but could be extended. Trump's order also directed the US state department to consider revoking academic or exchange visas of current Harvard students who meet his proclamation's criteria.
In Thursday's court filing, Harvard said Trump had violated federal law by failing to back up his claims about national security.
'The proclamation does not deem the entry of an alien or class of aliens to be detrimental to the interests of the US, because noncitizens who are impacted by the proclamation can enter the United States so long as they go somewhere other than Harvard,' the school said.
The Trump administration has launched a multifront attack on the nation's oldest and wealthiest university, freezing billions in grants and other funding and proposing to end its tax-exempt status, prompting a series of legal challenges.
Harvard argued the administration is retaliating against it for refusing to accede to demands to control the school's governance, curriculum and the ideology of its faculty and students.
The university sued after homeland security secretary Kristi Noem announced on May 22 that her department was immediately revoking Harvard's student and exchange visitor programme certification which allows it to enrol foreign students.
Noem's action was temporarily blocked almost immediately by Burroughs. On the eve of a hearing before her last week, the department changed course and said it would instead challenge Harvard's certification through a lengthier administrative process.
Nonetheless, Burroughs said she planned to issue a longer-term preliminary injunction at Harvard's urging, saying one was necessary to give some protection to Harvard's international students.
Wednesday's two-page directive from Trump said Harvard had 'demonstrated a history of concerning foreign ties and radicalism' and had 'extensive entanglements with foreign adversaries', including China.
It said Harvard had seen a 'drastic rise in crime in recent years while failing to discipline at least some categories of conduct violations on campus' and had failed to provide sufficient information to the homeland security department about foreign students' 'known illegal or dangerous activities'.
The school in Thursday's court filing said the claims were unsubstantiated.
Reuters