Harvard University filed a federal lawsuit Thursday challenging the Trump administration’s decision to revoke its ability to enroll foreign students, calling the move a “blatant violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act.”
The Department of Homeland Security stripped Harvard of its Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification after the university refused to provide behavioral records about its visa-holding students after dangerous antisemitic protests swept the campus last year. The decision affects more than 7,000 international students, nearly a quarter of Harvard’s student body.
“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday. “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 controversy stems from DHS demands for detailed records about foreign students’ conduct and disciplinary actions involving the antisemitic, pro-Hamas protests. Noem requested information showing whether any visa-holding students committed “illegal activity” or “dangerous or violent activity” on campus, along with footage of protest activity and disciplinary records spanning five years.
Harvard rejected these requests, prompting the federal crackdown.
“As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies, you have lost this privilege,” Noem wrote to Harvard’s immigration services director.
The university now cannot enroll new foreign students for the 2025-2026 academic year. Current international students must transfer to other institutions or face losing their legal status to remain in the United States.
Harvard President Alan Garber announced the university is seeking a temporary restraining order to halt the policy while the lawsuit proceeds.
“It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard 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,” Harvard argued in its court filing.
The university called the policy “pernicious” and accused the Trump administration of departing from “decades of settled practice” without “rational explanation.” Harvard claimed the action was “carried out abruptly without any of the robust procedures the government has established to prevent just this type of upheaval to thousands of students’ lives.”
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin dismissed Harvard’s legal challenge, saying the “lawsuit seeks to kneecap the President’s constitutionally vested powers under Article II.”
“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,” McLaughlin said.
The dispute escalated after months of back-and-forth between Harvard and federal authorities. In April, Noem initially requested the records, but Harvard’s legal counsel allegedly provided inadequate information. When DHS general counsel requested the information again, Harvard provided what Noem described as an “insufficient, incomplete and unacceptable response.”
Anticipating the potential policy change, Harvard took the unusual step in April of allowing foreign students to accept admission to both Harvard and a foreign university as backup. Typically, students must commit to Harvard by May 1 and cannot enroll elsewhere.
The visa program termination represents the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign against elite universities over campus antisemitism following the October 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel. The administration has already frozen close to $3 billion in federal funding to Harvard and launched investigations across the Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services departments.
At least a dozen Harvard students have already had their study authorization revoked over campus protest activity. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress Tuesday that the administration has probably revoked “thousands” of student visas and would “proudly” revoke more.
“Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that want to enjoy the privilege of enrolling foreign students, that the Trump administration will enforce the law and root out the evils of antisemitism in society and campuses,” Noem said.