President Donald Trump (R) invoked federal law to block foreign students from entering the country to study at Harvard University in an executive order signed Wednesday, citing national security concerns and alleging a lack of cooperation with America’s oldest post-secondary institution.
Consequently, student and exchange visitor visas hosted by Harvard University have been immediately suspended for a minimum six-month period that may be extended at a later date.
Impacted by the executive order are students from outside the United States intending to study or conduct research at Harvard with F, M, and J category visas that have not yet arrived in the country.
Those currently attending Harvard under one of these visa categories also have the potential to be affected by this executive order, as the President has directed the Secretary of State to review whether or not these visas should, “in his discretion,” be revoked.
“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,” the executive order reads.
“That privilege is necessarily tied to the host institution’s compliance and commitment to following Federal law,” President Trump explained. “Harvard University has failed in this respect, among many others.”
Trump then went on to outline several reasons why he feels that allowing international students into the United States to study at Harvard runs contrary to the nation’s best interests, including the University’s alleged refusal to comply with the government’s records requests.
“Protecting our national security requires host institutions of foreign students to provide sufficient information, when asked, to enable the Federal Government to identify and address misconduct by those foreign students,” wrote Trump.
“In my judgment,” he continued, “it presents an unacceptable risk to our Nation’s security for an academic institution to refuse to provide sufficient information, when asked, about known instances of misconduct and criminality committed by its foreign students.”
“Harvard provided data on misconduct by only three students, and the data it provided was so deficient that the DHS could not evaluate whether it should take further actions,” said Trump. “Harvard’s actions show that it either is not fully reporting its disciplinary records for foreign students or is not seriously policing its foreign students.”
Trump also noted concerns over rising crime rates at the University, suggesting that Harvard has not properly dealt with conduct violations on campus.
“Crime rates at Harvard University — including violent crime rates — have drastically risen in recent years. Harvard has failed to discipline at least some categories of conduct violations on campus,” the President explained. “Given these facts, it is imperative, in my judgment, that the Federal Government be able to assess and, if necessary, address misconduct and crimes committed by foreign students at Harvard.”
“These concerns have compelled the Federal Government to conclude that Harvard University is no longer a trustworthy steward of international student and exchange visitor programs,” he argued.
The President further highlighted apparent links between Harvard and adversarial foreign nations, including China, suggesting that this could potentially compromise the nation’s interests.
“Harvard University has also developed extensive entanglements with foreign countries, including our adversaries,” he said, going on to single out the University’s alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
“Over the last 10 years, Harvard has received more than $150 million from China alone,” he said. “In exchange, Harvard has, among other things, ‘repeatedly hosted and trained members of a Chinese Communist Party paramilitary organization,’ according to a probe by the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.”
“Harvard researchers have also partnered with China-based individuals on research that could advance China’s military modernization, according to the same probe,” Trump added.
The President further criticized the University for allegedly “flout[ing] the civil rights of its students and faculty,” pointing toward their prior use of race-based affirmative action, a policy that has since been banned by the Supreme Court.
Trump then appears to suggest that Harvard is denying American students the opportunity to study at their University in favor of admitting international students to its campus.
[RELATED: Maine Colleges Respond to Supreme Court’s Ban on Use of Affirmative Action in College Admissions]
“Harvard’s discrimination against disfavored races in admissions was so blatant that the Supreme Court decision ending the practice nationwide bears Harvard’s name,” Trump explained. “Yet even after that Supreme Court decision, Harvard and its affiliated organizations on campus continue to deny hardworking Americans equal opportunities.”
“Instead of those Americans, Harvard admits students from non-egalitarian nations, including nations that seek the destruction of the United States and its allies, or the extermination of entire peoples,” he said.
“It is not in the interest of the United States to further compound Harvard’s discrimination against non-preferred races, national origins, shared ancestries, or religions by further reducing opportunities for American students through excessive foreign student enrollment,” Trump argued.
Trump then argued that the amalgamation of all these factors pushed him to prevent foreign students from entering the country to study at the University until they are addressed.
“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,” the President concluded.
Click Here to Read President Trump’s Full Executive Order
Harvard University has since responded to these allegations in a brief statement posted online.
“This is yet another illegal, retaliatory step taken by the Administration in violation of Harvard’s First Amendment rights,” University spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in the statement. “Harvard will continue to protect its international students.”
Under 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the President has the authority to, by proclamation, “for such period as he shall deem necessary,” restrict entry to the United States for “any aliens or of any class of aliens” that he determines to be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”
First approved in 1952, the INA collected and reorganized many provisions of American immigration law. This legislation has been amended many times in the decades since and is considered to include some of the country’s most important immigration laws.
It is the authority outlines in 1182(f) that Trump has called upon to support his executive action barring Harvard’s international students from entering the United States.
This is also the same authority upon which he drew in a separate executive order to restrict or limit entry of foreigners more generally from a total of 17 countries.
Immigration lawyer Ian A. Campbell told the Harvard Crimson, the University’s campus newspaper, in a text message that the University would likely face an uphill battle should it try to challenge the executive order in court.
“I think Harvard will ultimately have difficulty challenging this. I am sure they can get an injunction in the lower courts, but I am doubtful the Supreme Court would rule in their favor if they take the case,” Campbell said.
Mary S. Hoopes — a professor at Pepperdine University with experience in immigration law — however, told the Harvard Crimson that the order may be overturned as a violation of the University’s First Amendment rights.
With respect to this order’s implications for current foreign students at Harvard, Trump cites 8 U.S.C. 1201(i) of the INA which gives the Secretary of State the authority to revoke the “visa or other documentation” of “any alien” in the United States.
Revocation decisions made under this statute are not subject to judicial review, except in the context of a deportation proceeding where a visa’s revocation is the “sole ground for removal” under 8 U.S.C. 1227 (a)(1)(B), which outlines numerous classes of “deportable aliens.”
This executive order comes less than a month after the President initially tried to strip Harvard of its right to admit international students, at which time he cited nearly identical concerns regarding national security and an alleged lack of cooperation.
A federal judge quickly blocked this move, however, arguing that it was “unprecedented and retaliatory.”
Late last month, federal agencies were directed to end all remaining contracts with Harvard, stemming the flow of federal dollars to the institution, in response to alleged discrimination and antisemitism, a move that is expected to cost Harvard about $100 million worth of funding.
This comes in addition the estimated $2.2 billion worth of federal funding held by the Trump Administration earlier this year after the University refused to meet the demands outlined by the Administration in a letter sent this past April.
Harvard has appeared to publicly indicate that much of the federal funding they receive goes towards medical, scientific, and technological research, as opposed to administrative costs or student life.
Trump has suggested redirecting about $3 billion worth of federal funding away from Harvard and giving it instead to trade schools. It is not immediately clear what the logistics of such a transfer would be.
The University’s tax exempt status has also been called into question by the Administration, but a final ruling has yet to be made on whether or not this privilege will be rescinded.
Institutions of higher education have long been afforded tax exempt status due to their inherent “educational purpose,” but President Trump has posited revoking Harvard’s right to claim this benefit on account of allegedly “pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness.’”
At this time, there does not appear to be any end in sight to the standoff between the Trump Administration and one of America’s top Ivy League universities.
