Harvard sues over Trump barring its foreign students' US entry
Harvard asked a judge on June 5 to block President Donald Trump's proclamation that the university' PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
WASHINGTON – Harvard University sued to stop the Trump administration from barring its international students' entrance to the US, adding to a high-stakes legal battle between the government and the school.
Harvard asked a judge on June 5 to block President Donald Trump's proclamation that the university's foreign students will no longer be able to enter the country. The lawsuit expands on one the university filed on May 23 over another US effort to stop Harvard from enrolling international students.
The president said on June 4 that Harvard's refusal to provide records about international student misconduct poses a national security risk.
His executive action blocked Harvard's foreign students and researchers from entering the country. In May, the administration revoked the school's ability to sponsor their visas.
Earlier on June 5, Mr Trump said he saw Harvard University warming to cooperation with his administration after imposing punishing new sanctions on the school, including a new push to restrict foreign students and researchers.
'I think they're starting to behave, actually, if you want to know the truth,' Mr Trump told reporters on June 5 in the Oval Office during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Mr Trump said that 'all we want' is for the school to provide more information about its international students.
Administration officials had previously asked Harvard to turn over information about foreign enrollees who had engaged in illegal or threatening behaviour, and then complained that the university only identified three individuals.
'Harvard didn't want to give us the list. They're going to be giving us the list,' Mr Trump said. BLOOMBERG
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Iran says US travel ban shows 'deep hostility' for Iranians, Muslims
Iran's and U.S.' flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Iran on Saturday blasted U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban on countries including the Islamic Republic, saying it showed "deep hostility" toward Iranians and Muslims. "The decision to ban the entry of Iranian nationals - merely due to their religion and nationality - not only indicates the deep hostility of American decision-makers towards the Iranian people and Muslims but also violates... international law," a senior foreign ministry official said in a ministry statement posted on the X social media platform. Trump's proclamation on Wednesday will bar citizens from 12 countries starting on Monday at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT). The countries are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The ban, which Trump said was necessary to protect against "foreign terrorists", was reminiscent of a similar move he implemented during his first term in office from 2017 to 2021, when he barred travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.


AsiaOne
an hour ago
- AsiaOne
Dismay and disbelief as Trump bans visitors from a dozen countries, World News
Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned from visiting the United States expressed dismay and disbelief on Thursday (June 5) at President Donald Trump's new sweeping travel ban as his administration intensifies its immigration crackdown. Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday barring citizens of 12 countries from entering the US starting on Monday, asserting that the restrictions were necessary to protect against "foreign terrorists." The order was reminiscent of a similar move Trump implemented during his first term in office from 2017 to 2021, when he barred travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations. That directive faced court challenges and went through several iterations before the US Supreme Court upheld the ban in 2018. Former President Joe Biden, a Democrat who succeeded Trump, repealed that ban in 2021, calling it "a stain on our national conscience." But the new ban is much more expansive and covers Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Citizens of seven other countries - Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela - will be partially restricted. A senior diplomat with the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, who asked not to be named, said Trump's justification did not stand up to scrutiny. "Sudanese people have never been known to pose a terrorist threat anywhere in the world," the official said. Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump's action. "Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride," he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the US a luxury airplane for Trump's use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the US Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban. Fatima, a 57-year-old Afghan women's rights defender waiting in Pakistan for her US visa to be processed, had her dreams shattered overnight after Trump's order. "Unfortunately, the decisions made by President Trump turned all the hopes and beliefs of us into ashes," she told Reuters, asking that only her first name be published for security reasons. Ban to take effect Monday Trump said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbour a "large-scale presence of terrorists," fail to co-operate on visa security, have an inability to verify travellers' identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States. He cited Sunday's incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt was not part of the travel ban. "Because Egypt has been a country that we deal with very closely. They have things under control," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. When asked why he chose this moment to unveil the ban, he said: "It can't come soon enough." The visa ban takes effect on June 9 at 12.01am. Visas issued before that date will not be revoked, the order said. In total, just under 162,000 immigrant visas and temporary work, study, and travel visas were issued in fiscal year 2023 to nationals of the affected countries in the now banned visa categories, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The ban is likely to face legal challenges. But Stephen Yale-Loehr, a retired professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School, said he expected those lawsuits to face an uphill climb, because the latest ban contains various exemptions and cited specific security concerns with each country. The ban includes exemptions, such as for dual nationals, permanent residents, immigrant visas for immediate family members of US citizens and athletes travelling for major sporting events like the World Cup. "Trump has learned from the mistakes of earlier travel bans," he said. Some foreign officials said they were prepared to work with the US to address Trump's security concerns. "Somalia values its longstanding relationship with the United States and stands ready to engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised," Dahir Hassan Abdi, the Somali ambassador to the United States, said in a statement. [[nid:718800]]


AsiaOne
2 hours ago
- AsiaOne
South Korea's Lee Jae-myung, Trump agree to work towards swift tariff deal, Lee's office says, World News
SEOUL/WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump and South Korea's new president Lee Jae-myung agreed to work toward a swift tariff deal in their first phone call since Lee was elected this week, Lee's office said on Friday (June 6). Trump has imposed tariffs on South Korea, a long time ally with which it has a bilateral free trade deal, and pressed it to pay more for the 28,500 US troops stationed there. Separately, Trump allies have aired concerns about Lee's more conciliatory stance towards China, Washington's main geopolitical rival. Lee, a liberal, was elected on June 3 after former conservative leader, Yoon Suk Yeol, was impeached and ousted. The future of South Korea's export-oriented economy may hinge on what kind of deal Lee can strike with Trump, with all of his country's key sectors from chips to autos and shipbuilding heavily exposed to global trade. His term began on Wednesday. "The two presidents agreed to make an effort to reach a satisfactory agreement on tariff consultations as soon as possible that both countries can be satisfied with," Lee's office said in a statement. "To this end, they decided to encourage working-level negotiations to yield tangible results." Trump invited Lee to a summit in the US and they plan to meet soon, according to a White House official. Analysts say the first opportunity for the two to meet could be at a G7 summit in Canada in mid-June. Lee's office said the two leaders also discussed the assassination attempts they both experienced last year as well as their enthusiasm for golf. Lee underwent surgery after he was stabbed in the neck by a man in January last year, while Trump was wounded in the ear by a bullet fired by a would-be assassin in July. South Korea, a major US ally and one of the first countries after Japan to engage with Washington on trade talks, agreed in late April to craft a "July package" scrapping levies before the 90-day pause on Trump's reciprocal tariffs is lifted, but progress was disrupted by the change of governments in Seoul. Lee said on the eve of the elections that "the most pressing matter is trade negotiations with the United States." Lee's camp has said, however, that they intend to seek more time to negotiate on trade with Trump. While reiterating the importance of the US-South Korea alliance, Lee has also expressed more conciliatory plans for ties with China and North Korea, singling out the importance of China as a major trading partner while indicating a reluctance to take a firm stance on security tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Political analysts say that while Trump and Lee may share a desire to try to re-engage with North Korea, Lee's stance on China could cause friction with the US A White House official said this week that South Korea's election was fair, but expressed concern about Chinese interference in what analysts said may have been a cautionary message to Lee. Speaking in Singapore last week, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said many countries were tempted by the idea of seeking economic co-operation with China and defence co-operation with the United States, and warned that such entanglement complicated defence co-operation. [[nid:718821]]