Court blocks Trump's new ban on foreign students at Harvard
BOSTON
A court has put a temporary stay on Donald Trump's latest effort to stop foreign students from enrolling at Harvard, as the U.S. president's battle with one of the world's most prestigious universities intensified.
A proclamation issued by the White House late on June 4 sought to bar most new international students at Harvard from entering the country, and said existing foreign enrollees risked having their visas terminated.
"Harvard's conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers," the order said on June 5.
Harvard quickly amended an existing complaint filed in federal court, saying: "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."
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs on June 5 ruled the government cannot enforce Trump's proclamation.
The same judge had already blocked Trump's earlier effort to bar international students from enrolling at the storied university.
The government already cut around $3.2 billion of federal grants and contracts benefiting Harvard and pledged to exclude the Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution from any future federal funding.
