By COLLIN BINKLEY, Related Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is transferring to dam practically all overseas college students from getting into the nation to attend Harvard College, his newest try to choke the Ivy League college from a world pipeline that accounts for 1 / 4 of the coed physique.
In an government order signed Wednesday, Trump declared that it might jeopardize nationwide safety to permit Harvard to proceed internet hosting overseas college students on its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“I’ve decided that the entry of the category of overseas nationals described above is detrimental to the pursuits of the USA as a result of, in my judgment, Harvard’s conduct has rendered it an unsuitable vacation spot for overseas college students and researchers,” Trump wrote within the order.
It’s an extra escalation within the White Home’s struggle with the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college. A federal court docket in Boston blocked the Division of Homeland Safety from barring worldwide college students at Harvard final week. Trump’s order invokes a special authorized authority.
Trump invoked a broad federal legislation that offers the president authority to dam foreigners whose entry can be “detrimental to the pursuits of the USA.” On Wednesday, he cited the identical authority when saying that residents of 12 international locations can be banned from visiting the U.S. and people from seven others would face restrictions. Trump’s Harvard order cites a number of different legal guidelines, too, together with one barring foreigners related to terrorist organizations.
It stems from Harvard’s refusal to undergo a sequence of calls for made by the federal authorities. It has escalated just lately after the Division of Homeland Safety mentioned Harvard refused to supply data associated to misconduct by overseas college students.
Harvard says it has complied with the request, however the authorities mentioned the college’s response was inadequate.
The dispute has been constructing for months after the Trump administration demanded a sequence of coverage and governance adjustments at Harvard, calling it a hotbed of liberalism and accusing it of tolerating anti-Jewish harassment. Harvard defied the calls for, saying they encroached on the college’s autonomy and represented a menace to the liberty of all U.S. universities. Harvard President Alan Garber additionally disputed the federal government’s allegations, saying in a letter final month that the college is nonpartisan and has taken steps to root out antisemitism on campus.
Trump officers have repeatedly raised the stakes and sought new fronts to stress Harvard, reducing greater than $2.6 billion in analysis grants and transferring to finish all federal contracts with the college. The newest menace has focused Harvard’s roughly 7,000 worldwide college students, who account for half the enrollment at some Harvard graduate colleges.
“Admission to the USA to review at an ‘elite’ American college is a privilege, not a proper,” Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi mentioned in a submit on X. “This Division of Justice will vigorously defend the President’s proclamation suspending the entry of recent overseas college students at Harvard College based mostly on nationwide safety issues.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., referred to as the measure ridiculous and mentioned it has nothing to do with nationwide safety.
“It’s a thinly veiled revenge ploy in Trump’s private feud with Harvard, and continued authoritarian overreach in opposition to free speech,” Jayapal mentioned on the social media website X.
The order applies to all college students trying to enter the USA to attend Harvard after the date of the chief order. It offers a loophole to permit college students whose entry would “profit the nationwide curiosity,” as decided by federal officers.
Trump’s order alleges that Harvard offered information on misconduct by solely three college students in response to the Homeland Safety request, and it lacked the element to gauge if federal motion was wanted. Trump concluded that Harvard is both “not totally reporting its disciplinary data for overseas college students or just isn’t critically policing its overseas college students.”
“These actions and failures instantly undermine the Federal Authorities’s means to make sure that overseas nationals admitted on pupil or alternate customer visas stay in compliance with Federal legislation,” the order mentioned.
For overseas college students already at Harvard, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will decide if visas needs to be revoked, Trump wrote.
The order is scheduled to final six months. Inside 90 days, the administration will decide if it needs to be renewed, the order mentioned.
A State Division cable despatched final week to U.S. embassies and consulates mentioned federal officers will start reviewing the social media accounts of visa candidates who plan to attend, work at or go to Harvard College for any indicators of antisemitism.
In a court docket submitting final week, Harvard officers mentioned the Trump administration’s efforts to cease Harvard from enrolling worldwide college students have created an setting of “profound concern, concern, and confusion.” Numerous worldwide college students have requested about transferring from the college, Harvard immigration companies director Maureen Martin mentioned within the submitting.
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