Harvard challenges Donald Trump’s ban on its foreign students entering the US

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free

Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world

Harvard said the White House’s latest effort to block the university from accepting international students is illegal and has asked a judge to block the order.

President Donald Trump’s proclamation that banned Harvard’s foreign students from entering the US on national security grounds is a violation of the First Amendment, the university claims in an amended lawsuit.

Trump on Wednesday invoked a law that allows him to block a “class of aliens” that would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States”.

Harvard argued in its suit the law does not apply in this case.

The amended lawsuit says Trump’s proclamation means international students may enter the country “as long as they do not attend Harvard”, which contradicts the president’s claims of protecting the “interests of the United States” because it singles out the university.

The school claimed Trump’s move was retaliation for Harvard resisting his administration’s demands to control the school’s governance, curriculum and what it called “the ideology of faculty and students”.

Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, said: “Signalling out our institution for its enrolment of international students and its collaboration with other educational institutions around the world is yet another illegal step taken by the administration to retaliate against Harvard.”

The latest action follows Harvard’s push to block the White House’s policy cancelling its right to host foreign students.

Garber said: “Contingency plans are being developed to ensure that international students and scholars can continue to pursue their work at Harvard this summer and through the coming academic year.”

More than 27 per cent of Harvard’s students are international.

The government has said it was suspending interviews for all international student visa applicants to the US while it prepared new guidance including examining their social media feeds.

Trump has cancelled about $3bn in government funding to Harvard, threatened to remove its tax exempt status and probed alleged civil rights violations and foreign donations.