Latest news with #anti-Gaza
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal jduge blocks Trump administration Harvard student ban
June 6 (UPI) -- A federal judge temporarily paused President Donald Trump's ban on foreign nationals coming to study, teach, or do research at Harvard University, pending a hearing later in June. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs' ruling Thursday night came after Harvard filed a suit in Boston alleging Trump's proclamation, issued a day earlier, was unlawful because it violated the First Amendment. Burroughs said she was granting Harvard's motion for a restraining order against the Homeland Security Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Justice Department, State Department and the Student and Exchange Visitor Program after accepting Harvard's claim that it would otherwise "sustain immediate and irreparable injury before there was an opportunity to hear from all parties." The motion was in a hastily amended complaint by Harvard after Trump on Wednesday suspended entry of all foreign nationals "who enter or attempt to enter the United States to begin attending Harvard," and directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to consider cancelling the visas of foreigners already there. She said the court would reconvene on June 16 for a full hearing on whether Trump's proclamation is legal. Burroughs' order also extended through June 20 a temporary restraining order she issued May 23, preventing DHS from implementing a ban on Harvard sponsoring holders of F-1 and J-1 non-immigrant visas, something the university has been permitted to do for more than seven decades. The school's legal team argued Wednesday's proclamation was an effort to get around this restraining order. "The proclamation simply reflects the administration's effort to accomplish the very result that the Court sought to prevent. The Court should not stand for that," Harvard's legal counsel alleged in court filings. Harvard has maintained that the orders represent executive overreach, while Trump insists there is a national security risk posed by its foreign students. The Trump administration has demanded that Harvard water down its diversity, equality and inclusion policies in hiring and admissions, beef up enforcement of anti-Semitism measures on campus following anti-Gaza war protests and hand over the records of its international students. Trump's proclamation stated that the step was in the national interest because he believed Harvard's refusal to share "information that the federal government requires to safeguard national security and the American public" showed it was not suitable for foreign nationals. In April, Trump cancelled more than $2 billion in federal funding that the university receives and threatened to remove its tax-exemption status and ability to enroll overseas students. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Hill that Harvard's lawsuit was a bid to "kneecap the President's constitutionally vested powers" to suspend entry to the country of persons whose presence was not in line with national interests. "It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments," McLaughlin said. "The Trump administration is committed to restoring common sense to our student visa system; no lawsuit, this or any other, is going to change that. We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side."
UPI
4 days ago
- Politics
- UPI
Federal jduge blocks Trump administration Harvard student ban
June 6 (UPI) -- A federal judge temporarily paused President Donald Trump's ban on foreign nationals coming to study, teach, or do research at Harvard University, pending a hearing later in June. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs' ruling Thursday night came after Harvard filed a suit in Boston alleging Trump's proclamation, issued a day earlier, was unlawful because it violated the First Amendment. Burroughs said she was granting Harvard's motion for a restraining order against the Homeland Security Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Justice Department, State Department and the Student and Exchange Visitor Program after accepting Harvard's claim that it would otherwise "sustain immediate and irreparable injury before there was an opportunity to hear from all parties." The motion was in a hastily amended complaint by Harvard after Trump on Wednesday suspended entry of all foreign nationals "who enter or attempt to enter the United States to begin attending Harvard," and directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to consider cancelling the visas of foreigners already there. She said the court would reconvene on June 16 for a full hearing on whether Trump's proclamation is legal. Burroughs' order also extended through June 20 a temporary restraining order she issued May 23, preventing DHS from implementing a ban on Harvard sponsoring holders of F-1 and J-1 non-immigrant visas, something the university has been permitted to do for more than seven decades. The school's legal team argued Wednesday's proclamation was an effort to get around this restraining order. "The proclamation simply reflects the administration's effort to accomplish the very result that the Court sought to prevent. The Court should not stand for that," Harvard's legal counsel alleged in court filings. Harvard has maintained that the orders represent executive overreach, while Trump insists there is a national security risk posed by its foreign students. The Trump administration has demanded that Harvard water down its diversity, equality and inclusion policies in hiring and admissions, beef up enforcement of anti-Semitism measures on campus following anti-Gaza war protests and hand over the records of its international students. Trump's proclamation stated that the step was in the national interest because he believed Harvard's refusal to share "information that the federal government requires to safeguard national security and the American public" showed it was not suitable for foreign nationals. In April, Trump cancelled more than $2 billion in federal funding that the university receives and threatened to remove its tax-exemption status and ability to enroll overseas students. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Hill that Harvard's lawsuit was a bid to "kneecap the President's constitutionally vested powers" to suspend entry to the country of persons whose presence was not in line with national interests. "It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments," McLaughlin said. "The Trump administration is committed to restoring common sense to our student visa system; no lawsuit, this or any other, is going to change that. We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side."
Jordan Times
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Jordan Times
Trump's global fallout contrasts with Pope Francis's enduring legacy
Donald Trump was among world leaders to attend the funeral of Pope Francis who was one of the 21st century's most admired and beloved global figures and whose death moved millions to grief. Trump clearly expected his presence in Rome would polish his image tarnished by his record during his first 100 days back in the White House. He claims he has had the most successful 100 days in US history, and this will continue for the rest of his four-year term. However, during the early phase of his first term (2017-2021), Trump was new to the office of president and chose military men and politicians with experience for his advisers who acted as 'the adults in the room' to block his worst time around know-it-all Trump has surrounded himself with media personalities, cranks, and yes-men who want to keep their jobs. According to an ABCNews/WashingtonPost/ipsos poll, his approval rating has sunk to 39 per cent, the lowest for a president beginning a new term in 80 years. This was even lower than the figure of 42 per cent in 2017 at the same time in his first term. The crucial figures for Trump were on the economy and migration since he had campaigned to boost family income and cut immigration. He had promised early improvements on both fronts. Fifty-three per cent said the economy was worse since he returned to office and 72 per cent took the view that a recession was likely due to his policies. Fifty-three per cent disapproved of his immigration policies. Also on the domestic front, Trump's authoritarian efforts to expand presidential powers and his flouting of the US constitution and the rule of law earned disapproval ratings ranging from 55 to 65 per cent. Federal and state court cases are mounting against his executive orders. Harvard University is suing Trump who cancelled $2.3 billion in US government grants for medical research and demanded government oversight of admissions, staff, and courses. The Department of Education sent letters to 60 higher institutions of learning warning them of "enforcement actions" if they did not halt pro-Palestinian protests and protect Jewish students although many have taken part in anti-Gaza war demonstrations. On the foreign front, his initiatives have caused widespread consternation. He pronounced tariffs on imports from all US commercial partners. Outrage among US friends caused him to pause the tariffs while adversary China responded in kind when he imposed high tariffs on Chinese goods. If he goes ahead with tariffs on others, he could disrupt global trade and cause a global recession. High tariffs introduced in 1930 exacerbated the Great Depression which had begun in 1929, lasted for nearly a decade and impacted countries across the globe. Last week he angered Panama and Egypt by demanding that US ships pass through the Panama and Suez canals without paying toll fees. The US had nothing to do with building the Suez Canal which was built by France and Egypt but the US was responsible for the Panama Canal, It was handed it over to Panama during Jimmy Carter's presidency. Earlier in the year Trump argued the US should take over the management of the Panama Canal, a bid promptly rejected by the government of Panama. At the same time, Trump proposed making Canada the 51st US state and assume control over Greenland, the vast autonomous territory tied to Denmark. This idea has been rejected by Greenlanders and Danes and their governments. He has upset Mexico by renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, a move most countries do not recognise. This week Greenland's prime minister visited and toured Denmark to make it clear to Trump that he cannot buy or annex the Arctic territory. When on Monday, Canadians voted for a new government they chose the Liberal Party which they believed would most forcefully reject Trump. Ahead of the election, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called Trump an economic and existential threat. Trump has demonstrated that he is an existential threat to peoples around the world. In this region, he called for the evacuation of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and the transformation of the narrow coastal strip into a Middle Eastern Rivera. Trump has taken no action to put pressure on Israel to end the Gaza war. Instead, he has continued to provide weapons, including 900-kilogram bombs, which have killed more than 52,000 Gazans and devastated the Strip. Although the International Criminal Court has issued warrants based on war crimes charges for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Trump remains their staunch ally. Trump maintains Assad era sanctions on Syria although there is a new regime in Damascus which is trying to reconstruct the country and revive the economy. Trump has imposed "maximum sanctions" and threatened Iran with war if Tehran does not agree with the US on a new deal limiting its nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions. Trump has authorised bombings of Yemen which have killed civilians and African migrants. Trump has cut the World Food Programme's (WFP) budget in half by attacking the US Agency for International Development (USAID). While the WFP will continue to provide assistance to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Somalia and other countries, Afghanistan and Yemen have been excluded because they do not fit into Trump's Make America Great agenda. Pope Francis would never have behaved the way Trump does. Francis' agenda was to succour the poor, hungry, and ill whenever they are and defend vulnerable peoples, like the Palestinians, from injustice and genocide.
Al Jazeera
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Harvard University defies Trump's demands, faces $2.3bn in funding cuts
Harvard University has rejected demands from United States President Donald Trump's administration that would see the university cede control to what it described as a conservative government that portrays universities as dangerously leftist. Within hours of Harvard taking its stand on Monday, the Trump administration announced it was freezing $2.3bn in federal funding to the Ivy League school. The funding freeze comes after the Trump administration said last month it was reviewing $9bn in federal contracts and grants to Harvard as part of a crackdown on what it says is anti-Semitism that erupted on college campuses during pro-Palestinian and anti-Gaza war protests over the past 18 months. The freeze followed Harvard president Alan Garber's issuing a public letter calling the Trump administration's demands an attempt 'to control the Harvard community' and threaten the school's 'values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production and dissemination of knowledge'. Rejecting the government's demands, which include reporting foreign students for code violations, reforming its governance and leadership, discontinuation of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes as well as changing its hiring and admission policies, especially for international students, Garber said such interference was 'unprecedented' and 'beyond the power of the federal government.' 'No government – regardless of which party is in power – should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,' Garber's letter continued. The US Department of Education's Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, in a written statement, said Garber's letter 'reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges – that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws'. Al Jazeera's correspondent in Washington, DC, Patty Culhane, pointed out that while Harvard is not the first institution to be targeted, it has been 'the first to sound defiant', and even indicate 'that they might be willing to fight it in court'. 'So, a very big shift from what we've seen from other universities, but if anyone could do it, it's Harvard,' Culhane said. The Trump administration has frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for numerous universities, pressing the institutions to make policy changes and citing what it says is a failure to fight anti-Semitism on campus. Columbia University was stripped of $400m in grants and contracts on March 7 for what the Trump administration alleged was allowing 'relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment' on its campus. Deportation proceedings have begun against several detained foreign students who took part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, while visas for hundreds of other students have been cancelled.
Muscat Daily
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Muscat Daily
US judge rules Mahmoud Khalil can be deported
Washington, D.C., US – A US immigration judge ruled on Friday that Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University, can be deported because his beliefs threaten national security. Judge Jamee Comans said the government provided sufficient evidence, citing a letter from Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating that Khalil's activism could harm US foreign policy – even if his speech and activism were 'otherwise lawful'. Addressing the court, Khalil quoted Comans' earlier assertion that lawfully nothing was more important than due process and fairness. 'Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process,' Khalil said. 'This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, a thousand miles away from my family.' 'Weaponising immigration law' Khalil, a permanent US resident and vocal pro-Palestinian activist, was arrested March 8, becoming the first student detained under US President Donald Trump's crackdown on Gaza war protesters. He was flown to a detention centre in Jena, Louisiana, the next day, away from his legal team and his pregnant wife, who is a US citizen. Khalil, an Algerian national born to Palestinian parents and raised in Syria, hasn't been charged with any crimes. However, the Trump administration claims non-citizens participating in anti-Gaza war protests are antisemitic or 'pro- Hamas', referring to the Palestinian group that attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. The White House accused Khalil of 'siding with terrorists' but did not provide any evidence to back this claim. Khalil's lawyer, Marc Van Der Hout, called the ruling a 'charade of due process' and accused the administration of weaponising immigration law to silence dissent. His lawyers said they plan to appeal Friday's decision. Meanwhile, federal judges in New York and New Jersey blocked Khalil's deportation while reviewing his claim that the arrest violated his First Amendment rights for freedom of speech. Targeting student protesters A wave of pro-Palestinian student protests across campuses swept through the US last year. Students called the demonstrations to protest academic and government support for Israel amid its ground offensive in Gaza. Hundreds of people were taken into police custody. Some Jewish students and faculty complained about being harassed during the demonstrations or feeling ostracised because of their faith or their support for Israel. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration has revoked the visas of 'maybe more than 300' people allegedly tied to pro-Palestinian university protests. Meanwhile, Khalil's case has drawn national attention, with critics warning of violations of the right to free speech. Ramya Krishman, a senior staff attorney at Columbia's Knight First Amendment Institute, said that the government has unleashed a campaign of terror on immigrants. 'And it seems that no one is safe,' Krishman said. DW
