The department’s latest instructions cap off a week in which President Trump attempt to ratchet up his assault on the college was temporarily thwarted by the courts.

President Donald Trump has signed a proclamation to suspend international visas for new students at Harvard University, the White House announced Wednesday, in a dramatic escalation of its efforts to block foreign nationals from enrolling at the elite university.

Critics say proposals to restrict or even ban Chinese student visas take a “sledgehammer to a problem that needs highly targeted tools.”

Houston-area universities are awaiting the resumption of student visa interviews as a federal pause threatens the enrollment of a large international population. It's unclear when the pause will lift,

The concentration of F-1 student visa holders – typically those working on traditional degrees at accredited colleges and universities – are concentrated in the states with some of the top U.S. schools. California leads the list with 821 SEVP-registered schools. New York came in second, with 480.

The Trump administration is planning to expand social media screenings for international students applying for visas.

The school's flagship campus, which has the second largest number of international students of all public universities in the country, could be hit hard by Trump's plan to revoke Chinese student visas.

A Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit is among the many organizations facing uncertainty as the Trump administration places a temporary pause on new student visa interviews, leaving international students — some just days away from beginning summer internships in the capital — in limbo.

International students contribute essential research and tens of billions of dollars to the U.S. economy. The Trump administration has moved to curtail foreign enrollments to combat what it says is