Harvard sues Trump, stops foreign students

Harvard is attempting to stand up to Donald Trump and is relying on the Constitution and the courts to block the US government's - sudden and bewildering - decision that has, in effect, banned international students from the university.

The oldest and wealthiest university in the United States has filed a lawsuit against the Republican administration, explaining that the revocation of programmes for foreign students is 'a blatant violation' of the Constitution and federal law, with 'immediate and devastating effects on the university and the activities of more than 7,000 students' who hold visas. The revocation, announced by Trump, would make it impossible to matriculate non-US students. "With a stroke of a pen, the government would like to erase a quarter of Harvard's students: international students who contribute significantly to the university and its mission," Harvard said. "Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard," the university added.

Harvard has called for a suspension of the revocation of the foreign-student programmes, emphasising "the immediate and irreparable damage inflicted by this illegal action": the temporary suspension was already granted yesterday by the federal judge for the District of Massachusetts, Allison Burroughs, appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama. While, a few hours earlier, another federal judge, this time from California - Jeffrey S. White, appointed by conservative George W. Bush - had also suspended the ban on foreign students pending clarification of the clash between Trump and Harvard.

Trump's pressure on Harvard - 'a warning to all universities', as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has remarked - is part of the broader campaign by the right wing in power in Washington to force universities, law firms, media, courts and other independent institutions to align with his agenda. The campaign has included attempts to expel foreign students who participated in pro-Palestine protests (without having committed any crime), retaliation against lawyers and busy law firms (guilty of taking on cases in opposition to the government), and has gone so far as to threaten to indict judges who have stopped the president's immigration measures.

Trump also went back to accusing Columbia University of having 'violated the civil rights of Jewish students' by not stopping pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests during these months of war in the Gaza Strip.