BOSTON: Harvard University said on Thursday (Jun 5) that US President Donald Trump’s move to bar foreign nationals seeking to study at the Ivy League school from entering the United States is illegal, and asked a judge to block it immediately pending further litigation.
Harvard amended an earlier lawsuit, which it had filed amid a broader dispute with the Republican president, to challenge the proclamation that Trump issued on Wednesday.
“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 behaviour has jeopardised the integrity of the entire US 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.
Trump cited national security concerns as justification for barring international students from entering the US to pursue studies at the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university.
The suspension will initially be for six months but can be extended. Trump’s proclamation also directs the US State Department to consider revoking academic or exchange visas of any current Harvard students who meet his proclamation’s criteria.
In Thursday’s court filing, Harvard said Trump had violated federal law by failing to back up his claims about national security.
“The Proclamation does not deem the entry of an alien or class of aliens to be detrimental to the interests of the United States, because noncitizens who are impacted by the Proclamation can enter the United States – just so long as they go somewhere other than Harvard,” the school said.
