Harvard sues over Trump's foreign student visa restrictions

Harvard University is suing the Trump administration over the president’s recent proclamation that bars the Ivy League school from enrolling new international students, extending the legal battle between the federal government and the nation’s oldest university. 

Harvard, in an amended lawsuit on Thursday, is asking the judge to pause Trump’s Wednesday proclamation that prevents the school from having its new students, on either F, M, or J visas, come into the U.S., calling it unlawful. 

“Both the President’s proclamation and the DHS Secretary’s revocation violate the First Amendment,” Harvard’s legal team said in the Thursday filing. “Each is part of a concerted and escalating campaign of retaliation by the government in clear retribution for Harvard’s exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the 'ideology’ of its faculty and students.” 

“This lawsuit seeks to kneecap the President’s constitutionally vested powers under Article II," assistant DHS secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Hill. "It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments. The Trump administration is committed to restoring common sense to our student visa system; no lawsuit, this or any other, is going to change that. We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side.”

The amended filing builds on the previous lawsuit the school filed last month after DHS moved to rescind Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, therefore preventing the institution from admitting foreign students. The U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs temporarily blocked the administration from revoking the school’s SEVP certification. 

Trump’s proclamation, which was issued Wednesday night, also directs Secretary of State Marco Rubio to consider “revoking existing F, M, or J visas for current Harvard students who meet the Proclamation’s criteria.” 

Harvard earlier this week also moved for a decisive decision from a federal judge to unfreeze the around $2.5 billion in federal funds.

The Trump administration has accused Harvard of breaching federal law, claiming that the school has failed to address antisemitism on its campus and has not been combating the rising crime rate at the university. The White House also said that Harvard has not provided enough information about the “foreign students’ known illegal or dangerous activities, reporting deficient data on only three students.” 

Updated at 10:32 p.m. EDT.