Trump tries to ban Harvard from enrolling international students

The Trump medication is trying to portion Harvard of its quality to enroll planetary students — an effort blocked by a national judge connected Friday, conscionable hours aft the assemblage filed a suit claiming Trump was violating its First Amendment rights.

On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rescinded Harvard’s access to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a authorities database of planetary students attending universities successful the United States. The students’ visas weren’t cancelled, but DHS’s revocation of Harvard’s SEVIS certification could, successful theory, marque astir 6,800 planetary students enrolled astatine Harvard deportable immediately.

“This medication is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party connected its campus,” DHS caput Kristi Noem said connected Thursday. “It is simply a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll overseas students and payment from their higher tuition payments to assistance pad their multibillion-dollar endowments. Harvard had plentifulness of accidental [sic] to bash the close thing. It refused.”

A period earlier, DHS demanded that Harvard crook implicit accusation connected its planetary students, including their “known amerciable activity,” “known unsafe oregon convulsive activity,” “known threats to different students oregon assemblage personnel,” and “known deprivation of rights of different classmates oregon assemblage personnel.” The section besides requested accusation connected immoderate disciplinary enactment that had been taken against planetary students who participated successful protests. DHS threatened to rescind Harvard’s SEVIS certification if the assemblage didn’t crook implicit pupil records by April 30th.

Since taking office, Trump has utilized allegations of antisemitism astatine universities crossed the state to retaliate against students progressive successful field protests against the warfare connected Gaza — and against the universities themselves, which the medication claims haven’t done capable to quell antisemitism connected their campuses. In summation to pulling billions of dollars successful national funding, the medication has besides had Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehension respective students implicit their pro-Palestine activism. Some of these students, like Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, are greenish paper holders whom ICE has accused of engaging successful behaviour that is contrary to the US’s overseas argumentation interests. Others are planetary students whose visas were revoked by the State Department, frankincense making them deportable.

Instead of targeting idiosyncratic students astatine Harvard, the Trump medication is going aft the university’s quality to enroll planetary students altogether. Unlike Columbia, which capitulated to a database of Trump’s demands, Harvard has mostly refused to comply with the administration’s requests that it manus implicit information connected its planetary students; “audit” its world programs, arsenic good arsenic students’ and faculty’s governmental views; and alteration its governance operation and hiring practices.

Harvard sued the medication connected Friday. In a ailment filed successful Massachusetts national court, the university’s lawyers called DHS’s revocation of its SEVIS certification a “blatant usurpation of the First Amendment.”

“It is the latest enactment by the authorities successful wide retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to cull the government’s demands to power Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its module and students,” the ailment alleges. “With the changeable of a pen, the authorities has sought to erase a 4th of Harvard’s pupil body, planetary students who lend importantly to the University and its mission.”

Moreover, the suit claims, revoking Harvard’s SEVIS presumption puts students successful an intolerable position. “Termination of SEVIS records presents pupil visa holders whose schoolhouse loses its certification with 2 atrocious choices,” the ailment claims: transferring immediately, oregon leaving the country.

A national justice has temporarily blocked DHS’s effort to revoke Harvard’s SEVIS certification. The university’s planetary students are harmless — for now.