Harvard files lawsuit against Trump's ban on US entry for foreign students

NEW YORK -- Harvard University filed a legal challenge in federal court on Thursday against Trump administration's ban on international students from entering the United States on visas to attend Harvard.

The filing came less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump issued a proclamation suspending entry for foreign nationals intending to study at Harvard. The university alleged the administration's action was designed to circumvent an earlier court order that had blocked the Department of Homeland Security from banning international enrollment at Harvard.

"The President's actions thus are not undertaken to protect the 'interests of the United States', but instead to pursue a government vendetta against Harvard," the university wrote in the filing.

President of Harvard Alan M. Garber issued a statement shortly after the court filing, saying that "singling out our institution for its enrollment 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."

He added that the university was developing "contingency plans" to ensure that international students and scholars could continue to pursue their work at Harvard this summer and through the coming academic year.

The latest filing is an amended lawsuit. Since April, the university had taken a string of court actions against the administration, as it refused to comply with a list of demands by the administration.