Harvard sues Trump administration over foreign students ban

Harvard University is suing the Trump administration a day after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked its certification to admit foreign students, an escalation of its fight with the institution and an effort to hit its wallet.

Harvard President Alan Garber announced the suit in a letter to the Harvard community.

“Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,” the complaint reads.

The suit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, claims the administration's actions violate the First Amendment, constitutional due process and DHS's own regulations. 

It landed just hours after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ordered Harvard be taken off the Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification. The order effectively bans Harvard from enrolling new international students and forces current ones, who make up roughly a quarter of the school’s student population, to transfer. 

Garber characterized the government’s actions as an effort to lash out at Harvard over its “refusal to surrender our academic independence and to submit to the federal government’s illegal assertion of control over our curriculum, our faculty and our student body.”

“We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action,” he wrote.

The ban marks another blow in the fight between the administration and Ivy League school.

The administration has launched a multifront pressure campaign against the school for refusing to bow to its demands for changes to its admissions and hiring policies, as well as getting rid of diversity, equity and inclusion programs and a stronger stance against antisemitism.  

Last month, the school sued the administration for freezing more than $2 billion in federal funding unless it complies with various demands. 

But in that case, Harvard has not pursued any emergency relief. In the new lawsuit, the university indicated it would seek a temporary restraining order to immediately block the administration’s efforts as the litigation proceeds.

“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,” the lawsuit reads. 

International students made up 27 percent of Harvard’s student body in the 2024-25 academic year. 

This year has been a whirlwind for foreign students across the country as the Trump administration has sought to revoke the legal status of thousands of them. 

In the most high-profile cases, the federal government has targeted foreign students and faculty that have expressed support for Palestinians during on-campus protests of the Israel-Hamas war.  

Some international students fled the country to avoid arrest, and others are still sitting in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center. 

Foreign students contribute more than $40 billion to the U.S. economy. 

Lexi Lonas Cochran contributed.

Updated at 9:14 a.m. EDT