Trump suspends entry into US of new Harvard international students in latest move against the university

Donald Trump continues his crusade against Harvard University. After a judge indefinitely blocked his order prohibiting the university from admitting foreign students to its campus, the president signed a proclamation on Wednesday altogether suspending the entry of foreign students into the country “to pursue a course of study at Harvard University.”

The president maintains that actions by university officials, who have refused to hand over information about students, “compromise national security.” The suspension is for six months and can be extended.

The proclamation suspends or limits entry to any new Harvard students holding F, M, or J visas, and even directs Secretary of State Marco Rubio to consider revoking existing F, M, or J visas for current Harvard students who meet the proclamation’s criteria, the White House said in a statement Wednesday.

“Admission into the United States to attend, conduct research, or teach at our Nation’s institutions of higher education is a privilege granted by our Government, not a guarantee. That privilege is necessarily tied to the host institution’s compliance and commitment to following Federal law. Harvard University has failed in this respect, among many others,” reads the proclamation.

“I have determined that the entry of the class of foreign nationals described above is detrimental to the interests of the United States because, in my judgment, Harvard’s conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers,” the text states. “Until such time as the university shares the information that the Federal Government requires to safeguard national security and the American public, it is in the national interest to deny foreign nationals access to Harvard under the auspices of educational exchange.”

Trump sets out a string of pretexts for denying the new visas, citing everything from affirmative action on the basis of race (which was legal, but the Supreme Court overturned it two years ago), stating that China is taking advantage of American knowledge and advances, and accusing officials of not cooperating with information collection. The president also claims that “crime rates at Harvard University — including violent crime rates — have drastically risen in recent years,“ without providing a single piece of evidence for this assertion.

The top five countries contributing the most students to Harvard are, in this order, China, Canada, India, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, according to university data. About one in four Harvard students come from other countries.

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