WASHINGTON: The US State Department directed all US missions abroad and consular sections to resume processing Harvard University student and exchange visitor visas after a federal judge in Boston last week temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s ban on foreign students at the Ivy-League institution.
In a diplomatic cable sent on June 6 and signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the State Department cited parts of the judge’s decision, saying the fresh directive was “in accordance with” the temporary restraining order.
Under that order granted to Harvard late on Thursday, US District Judge Allison Burroughs blocked Trump’s proclamation from taking effect pending further litigation of the matter.
Trump had cited national security concerns as justification for barring international students from entering the United States to pursue studies at Harvard.
The Trump administration has launched a multi-pronged attack on the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university, freezing billions of dollars in grants and other funding and proposing to end its tax-exempt status, prompting a series of legal challenges.
Harvard argues the administration is retaliating against it for refusing to accede to demands to control the school’s governance, curriculum and the ideology of its faculty and students.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the cable, the State Department added that all other guidance regarding student visas remained in effect, including enhanced social media vetting and the requirement to review the applicants’ online presence.
US State Dept resumes processing Harvard student visas after judge’s ruling
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US State Dept resumes processing Harvard student visas after judge’s ruling
- Under that order granted to Harvard late on Thursday, US District Judge Allison Burroughs blocked Trump’s proclamation from taking effect pending further litigation of the matter
Coast Guard rescue 52 migrants off Greece, boy missing
- They found 13 migrants who had arrived on the small, uninhabited island
- Another 39 migrants were found on board an inflatable boat off the southern island of Crete
ATHENS: Greek coast guard were searching Thursday for a missing child off the island of Farmakonisi after rescuing 52 migrants in two separate incidents in the Aegean Sea, local media reported.
They found 13 migrants who had arrived on the small, uninhabited island, but one boy was reported missing from the group, said the ANA news agency.
Another 39 migrants were found on board an inflatable boat off the southern island of Crete, according to the same source. They were taken to the village of Kaloi Limenes in Crete. No details about their nationality were provided.
Two coast guard vessels and an airforce helicopter were deployed for the operation off Farmakonisi, opposite the Turkish coast.
Many migrants try to reach the Greek islands from Turkiye or Libya as a way of entering the European Union. But both crossings are perilous.
Earlier this month, 17 people were found dead in a migrant boat drifting off Crete. Another 15 people were reported missing. The vessel had set off from the Libyan port of Tobruk and most of those who died were from Sudan or Egypt.
The UN refugee agency said more than 16,770 asylum seekers in the EU have arrived on Crete since the start of the year — more than any other island in the Aegean Sea.
