Harvard-Trump Battle Takes New Turn, Court Halts US President's Ban On Foreign Students

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Harvard vs Trump: US President Donald Trump's latest clampdown to restrict foreign student enrolment at Harvard received a fresh blow after a court imposed a temporary stay on Thursday. The court halted Donald Trump's efforts to bar new international students from attending one of the world's most prestigious universities.

This comes a day after the White House issued a proclamation seeking to restrict new international students at Harvard from entering the country. US District Judge Allison Burroughs on June 5 ordered that the government cannot enforce Trump's proclamation, AFP reported.

"Harvard's conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers," the proclamation stated.

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After White House' latest move, Harvard University filed an urgent legal challenge against the sweeping proclamation and amended its existing complaint filed in federal court.“This is not the Administration's first attempt to sever Harvard from its international students ,” the University said.

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Asserting that the proclamation undermines both the university's mission and students' rights, Harvard labelled the move "illegal" and urged a federal judge to promptly block the proclamation. "The Proclamation denies thousands of Harvard's students the right to come to this country to pursue their education and follow their dreams," the Ivy League school said in its court filing.

It added,“And it denies Harvard the right to teach them. Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”

It further noted that the University is rightfully exercising its First Amendment rights by refuting government's intervention in Harvard's functioning.

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"(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," the statement said.

Trump administration's attack on Harvard comes in the backdrop of Donald Trump's crackdown on elite US universities, accusing them of being hotbeds of anti-Semitism, liberal bias and "woke" ideology.

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