BOSTON - Harvard University said President Donald Trump's move to bar foreign nationals seeking to study at the Ivy League school from entering the United States is illegal, and asked a judge to block it immediately pending further litigation.
Harvard amended an earlier lawsuit, which it had filed amid a broader dispute with the Republican president, to challenge the proclamation that Trump issued on Wednesday.
"The Proclamation denies thousands of Harvard’s students the right to come to this country to pursue their education and follow their dreams, and it denies Harvard the right to teach them. Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard," the school said in the filing on June 5.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson called Harvard "a hotbed of anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist agitators," claims that the school has previously denied.
"Harvard’s behavior has jeopardized the integrity of the entire U.S. student and exchange visitor visa system and risks compromising national security. Now it must face the consequences of its actions," Jackson said in a statement.
