The U.S. State Department directed all U.S. 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.

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.

The university called it “yet another illegal retaliatory step” from an administration that has sought ways to circumnavigate the courts in its push to bar foreign students.