Harvard challenges Trump’s ban on foreign students, amends previous lawsuit

Harvard University on Thursday (Jun 5) challenged US President Donald Trump’s ban on foreign students at the Ivy League school, adding it to the existing legal action against the Trump administration.

The White House on Wednesday (Jun 4) announced that the entry of foreign students to begin a course at Harvard would be “suspended and limited” for six months. The proclamation added that the existing international students will risk their visas being terminated.

“Harvard’s conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers,” the order said.

Earlier, the university filed a lawsuit against the proclamation issued by the US president on Wednesday (Jun 4).

“The Proclamation denies thousands of Harvard’s students the right to come to this country to pursue their education and follow their dreams, and it denies Harvard the right to teach them. Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,” the school said in the filing on June 5.

In an amended complaint filed, the university said that “this is not the Administration’s first attempt to sever Harvard from its international students”

“(It) is part of a concerted and escalating campaign of retaliation by the government in clear retribution for Harvard’s exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard's governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students,” it added.

Trump bans visas for new foreign students

Trump announced a visa ban for new foreign students who would enter America to study at Harvard.

Trump’s action came days after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) banned Harvard's ability to enrol foreign students for the upcoming year. This order was blocked by the court.

“I have determined that it is necessary to restrict the entry of foreign nationals who seek to enter the United States solely or principally to participate in a course of study at Harvard University or in an exchange visitor program hosted by Harvard University,” Trump said in a statement.

The move came after the university refused to provide details of misconduct by foreign students, including those taking part in pro-Palestine protests and those with links to the Chinese Communist Party.

Last month, the Trump administration also stopped $450 million in grants to the country’s oldest university after earlier freezing more than $2.2 billion in funding.