Trump’s ban on Harvard international students blocked by US judge

A federal judge on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to bar international students from entering the United States to study at Harvard University, in a ruling that gives a breather to the Ivy League school and students.

The judge’s order comes days after Trump signed a directive aimed solely at restricting Harvard’s foreign enrollment, a move the university challenged as illegal retaliation.

The court ruled in favour of Harvard’s amended complaint, which argued that the President’s action violated a previous injunction and bypassed due process.

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, under a two-page temporary restraining order granted to Harvard, enjoined Trump's proclamation from taking effect pending further litigation of the matter amid an escalating dispute between the Ivy League school and Republican president.

The judge ruled that Trump's directive prohibiting foreign nationals from entering the United States to study at Harvard for the next six months would cause "immediate and irreparable injury" before the courts have a chance to review the case.

Harvard had claimed the White House directive was “not undertaken to protect the interests of the United States, but instead to pursue a government vendetta against Harvard.”

The university argued that targeting students bound for one school does not constitute a lawful “class of aliens” under the federal statute invoked by the administration.

“The President's actions thus are not undertaken to protect the interests of the United States,' but instead to pursue a government vendetta against Harvard,” the university wrote.

"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.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson called Harvard "a hotbed of anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist agitators," claims that the school has previously denied.

"Harvard’s behavior has jeopardized the integrity of the entire U.S. student and exchange visitor visa system and risks compromising national security. 

Now it must face the consequences of its actions," Jackson said in a statement.

The latest decision preserves the ability of over 7,000 F-1 and J-1 visa holders and their dependents to travel to Harvard’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for upcoming academic terms.

The legal dispute began in May when the Department of Homeland Security moved to revoke Harvard’s certification to host international students.

That action was blocked by a federal judge in Boston. The Trump administration followed up by issuing a new presidential directive aimed at Harvard students alone, triggering the current challenge.

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/study/trump-harvard-ban-on-international-students-blocked-by-us-judge/articleshow/121662885.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst