Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over Ban on Foreign Students, Calls Move ‘Unconstitutional Retaliation’
Harvard said that it plans to file for a temporary restraining order to bloc the Department of Homeland Security from carrying out the move. Harvard University enrols almost 6,800 foreign students.
Harvard University has challenged the US President Trump-led administration’s decision to bar the Ivy League school from enrolling the foreign students. The varsity has called the decision unconstitutional retaliation for defying the White House’s political demands. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston, according to AP, Harvard said that the action by the government violates the First Amendment and will have an “immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders.”
“With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission,” Harvard said in its suit.
Harvard said that it plans to file for a temporary restraining order to bloc the Department of Homeland Security from carrying out the move. Harvard University enrols almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Most are graduate students, and they come from more than 100 countries.
The department announced the action on Thursday and accused Harvard of creating an unsafe campus environment by allowing the “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” to assault Jewish students on campus. It accused Harvard also of coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party, contending the school hosted and trained members of a Chinese paramilitary group as recently as 2024, reports AP.
Earlier, Harvard President Alan Garber said that the university had made changes to its governance over the past year and a half, including a broad strategy to combat antisemitism. He said that Harvard would not budge on its “its core, legally-protected principles” over fears of retaliation.
Harvard has said that it will respond at a later time to the allegations first raised by House Republicans about coordination with the Chinese Communist Party, reports AP.
According to the report, the suit is separate from the one filed by the university earlier, one challenging more than $2 billion in federal cuts imposed by the Republican administration.
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