President Trump said on Wednesday that he would prevent Harvard University’s international students from entering the country, an aggressive move the school called “illegal.”
Mr. Trump, in the same proclamation, also urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to consider revoking current visas for Harvard students.
The extraordinary action marks the first time Mr. Trump has tried to directly use the power of the presidency against Harvard, an indication of how personal the issue of inflicting maximum pain on the Ivy League university has become for him.
The school, which is all but certain to challenge the legality of Mr. Trump’s action, has become a focal point of the administration’s effort to align higher education with Mr. Trump’s political agenda. That effort began as one focused on addressing antisemitism on college campuses, but has moved beyond that issue to also include targeting universities over “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs and supporting transgender athletes.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened Harvard on social media and in remarks to reporters. But until now, the punishments for resistance — spending cuts and investigations — have come from federal agencies.
“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,” Mr. Trump wrote in the proclamation.
Jason Newton, a spokesman for Harvard, said Mr. Trump’s proclamation was “yet another illegal retaliatory step taken by the administration in violation of Harvard’s First Amendment rights.”
“Harvard will continue to protect its international students,” Mr. Newton said.
It was unclear how exactly Mr. Trump’s directive, announced late on Wednesday, would be put in place to stop Harvard students with valid visas from entering the United States. The law that Mr. Trump invoked to block Harvard students from entering the country has more typically been used to target people from foreign countries with ties to human rights abuses or corruption, according to the American Immigration Council, an advocacy group for immigrants.
A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But the administration’s action showed Mr. Trump’s unrelenting commitment to the fight, even when it comes to battles it appeared he had lost.
Mr. Trump’s order appeared to be a direct rejoinder to Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the District of Massachusetts, who said last week that she would block an effort by the Department of Homeland Security to prevent Harvard from enrolling international students. She has not yet formally issued her injunction.
If the federal government can’t disqualify Harvard students from receiving visas, Mr. Trump seemed to suggest with his order, then he will try to stop them from entering the country.
David Super, an administrative law expert at Georgetown University, said Mr. Trump probably would not be able to sidestep Judge Burroughs so easily.
“The president, for whatever reason, is clearly on a vendetta against Harvard for reasons having nothing to do with national security,” Mr. Super said. “Given past statements by him and members of his administration of hostility toward Harvard’s exercise of its First Amendment rights, I doubt the courts will take the allegations in this order very seriously.”
Kirsten Weld, a history professor at Harvard and president of the faculty chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said Mr. Trump’s action “wreaks havoc on the lives of thousands of young people.”
“If the Trump administration is so committed to improving U.S. higher education, it should stop undermining campus free speech and quit slashing the federal contracts that fund Harvard researchers’ lifesaving work on Alzheimer’s disease and pediatric cancer,” Ms. Weld said.
Of late, the administration has been focused on options for keeping international students out of the country. Mr. Trump has talked about capping the number of student visas for Harvard, and Mr. Rubio has said that his agency would begin revoking visas for some Chinese students.
International students at Harvard on Wednesday night said they were anxious and confused about Mr. Trump’s order, unsure about whether enrolled students already in the United States would be affected.
Some called a hotline set up by the Harvard International Office in an attempt to learn more, but found that the staffers were equally bewildered by the news. Others commiserated in WhatsApp group chats of international students.
Leo Gerdén, an international student from Sweden who graduated from Harvard last week, called Mr. Trump’s action “absolutely outrageous.”
“He is trying to use every disposable tool to harass international students,” Mr. Gerden said. “It is dehumanizing.”
Karl Molden, a rising junior from Vienna, wrote in a statement that Mr. Trump’s order on Wednesday made him “tremble.”
“This puts our future, thousands of international students at risk,” he wrote. “I feel exhausted, scared and discouraged. We must hope that the courts will defend us.”
Stephanie Saul contributed reporting from New York and Miles J. Herszenhorn contributed reporting from Boston.
Michael C. Bender is a Times political correspondent covering President Trump, the Make America Great Again movement and other federal and state elections.
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