U.S. judge blocks Trump’s ban on Harvard’s foreign enrolment: reports
A U.S. judge has blocked the Trump administration’s ban on Harvard University’s foreign enrolments, according to Reuters and The Associated Press.
District Judge Allison Burroughs, an appointee of Democratic former president Barack Obama, issued the temporary restraining order freezing the policy, Reuters reported Friday.
On Thursday, the administration revoked Harvard’s ability to enrol international students in its escalating battle with the Ivy League school, saying thousands of current students must transfer to other schools or leave the country.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security statement accused Harvard of creating “an unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students.”
The administration also accused Harvard, without presenting evidence, of colluding with the Chinese Communist Party.
“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a statement.
On Friday morning, Harvard University said it was taking the Trump administration to court over the order. In its complaint, Harvard asked the court for a temporary restraining order.
“We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action. It imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard and serves as a warning to countless others at colleges and universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their education and fulfill their dreams,” Harvard University president Alan Garber said in a message Friday.
Harvard enrols almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Mass., accounting for more than a quarter of its student body. Most are graduate students, coming from more than 100 countries.
While China is the university’s largest source of foreign enrolment, Canada follows in second place.
According to statistics from Harvard’s Global Support Services, approximately 500 to 800 Canadian students and scholars study at the university.
Its international office reports that about 555 Canadian students are studying this year, with 214 scholars also registered, though it notes the data does not reflect official numbers.
Trump’s pressure on Harvard is part of the Republican’s broader campaign to compel universities, law firms, news media, courts and other institutions that value independence from partisan politics to align with his agenda.
The campaign has included efforts to deport foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests but committed no crimes and retaliate against law firms that employ lawyers who have challenged Trump, and a suggestion by Trump to impeach a judge for an immigration ruling the president didn’t like.
Harvard has pushed back hard against Trump, having previously sued to restore some US$3 billion in federal grants that had been frozen or cancelled.
According to Harvard University, anywhere between 500-800 Canadian students study at the prestigious university each year.
For some of them, the Trump administration’s action against Harvard came as a major blow.
“It was a mix of both panic and shock,” said Thomas Mete, a third economics student from Canada at Harvard University, of the moment he first leaned of the ban.
Mete said the policy puts his future in jeopardy.
“It definitely throws a wrench in like many of my plans. I have ongoing research that also has PhD students from England and from other countries. I have a thesis that I’m beginning to write and (I am) just so close to finishing my studies at Harvard.”
Given the long and friendly relations that both countries enjoyed, Mete said Canadian students in the U.S. have felt quite at home at Harvard.
“There’s some sort of separation when you’re in the United States being from Canada. You’re not an international student like everyone else. But I think over the past 24 hours, we’ve really seen that that’s just not true,” he said.
While international students were told that they need to find another university to study or have their visas revoked, Mete said he and other fellow Canadians he’s been in touch with have no plans to move.
“It puts me in a place of like uncertainty, of frustration. But I’m much happier that my school is deciding to fight administration,” he said, referring to Harvard’s lawsuit against the administration.
— with files from Reuters
globalnews
