A federal judge has temporarily halted President Donald Trump's order banning foreign students from entering the U.S. to study at Harvard University.
Mr. Trump's announcement on Wednesday was the latest attempt by his administration to limit the nation's oldest and richest college's access to the quarter of its students who play a vital role in Harvard's research and development.
Harvard filed a lawsuit the next day, asking a judge to halt Mr. Trump’s order, which it called an unlawful response to Harvard’s refusal to comply with White House demands. Harvard said the president was trying to circumvent an earlier court order.
Hours later, U.S. District Judge Allison Burrows in Boston issued a temporary restraining order against Mr. Trump's order, issued Wednesday.
She said Harvard had shown that it would suffer “immediate and irreparable harm” before she could hear the parties to the lawsuit.
Ms. Burrows also extended a temporary freeze she imposed on the administration's previous attempt to stop Harvard from admitting international students.
Last month, the Department of Homeland Security revoked Harvard’s certification to accept foreign students and issue them visas, but Ms. Burrows temporarily blocked that decision. Mr. Trump’s order this week relied on a different legal pretext.
If Trump's bill passes the courts, it would prevent thousands of students from coming to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the summer and fall semesters.
“More than 7,000 F-1 and J-1 visa holders at Harvard and their dependents have been targeted in an escalating campaign of government retaliation,” Harvard said in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
While the lawsuit continues, Harvard is developing contingency plans to ensure students and visiting scholars can continue their work at the university, President Alan Garber said in a message to campus and alumni.
“Each of us is part of a truly global university community,” Mr. Garber said Thursday. “We recognize that the benefits of bringing together talented people from around the world are unique and irreplaceable.”
Harvard is increasingly attracting the world's brightest minds: the share of international students has risen from 11% three decades ago to 26% today.
The rise in international students has made Harvard and other elite colleges particularly vulnerable to Trump's crackdown on international students.
Republicans are seeking to reform the nation's leading colleges, which they see as centers of “wokeness” and anti-Semitism.
Mr. Garber noted that the university was taking steps to combat anti-Semitism. But Harvard, he said, would not back down from its “core, legally protected principles,” even when faced with federal ultimatums.
Mr. Trump's administration has also moved to withhold federal funding from Harvard and other elite colleges that have rejected White House demands regarding campus protests, admissions, hiring and other issues.
Harvard's $53bn (£39bn) endowment allows it to cope with the loss of funding for some time, although Mr Garber warned of “difficult decisions and sacrifices” ahead.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
