A Massachusetts college is responding to Trump’s executive order on immigration by offering a refugee a full scholarship to study at the institution.
The scholarship will give preference to refugees seeking entrance to the United States from one of the seven Muslim-majority countries under the executive order’s immigration ban, the Hill reported.
Wheaton College President Dennis Hanno spoke out against Trump’s immigration ban in a statement announcing the scholarship.
“The current executive order on immigration, which was signed on Friday, January 27, endangers the broadly diverse learning environment that is essential to our mission,” Hanno said in a news release. “This new policy implies that international students are neither needed nor wanted. This is false, and we must counter that divisive message.”
Hanno also urged Trump to repeal his executive order pertaining to refugees and citizens from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, and Somalia entering the U.S.
If the order, which specifies that restrictions are temporary, isn’t repealed, the scholarship will go to a refugee from a war-torn country already living in the U.S., Hanno said.
A federal judge in Washington state blocked Trump’s executive order Friday, declaring it unconstitutional. The Department of Justice can now appeal the order on an expedited basis.