Harvard University filed a federal lawsuit Friday against the Trump administration, one day after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked the university’s authorization to enroll international students.
The lawsuit accuses the department of violating the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act by stripping the university of its Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification.
“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,” the complaint states. “The government’s actions are unlawful for other equally clear and pernicious reasons.”
In a campus-wide letter, Harvard President Alan Garber called the move “unlawful and unwarranted.”
The certification revocation came after Harvard refused to comply with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s request for records on foreign students allegedly involved in criminal or disciplinary offenses. Noem accused Harvard of enabling “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” to create an unsafe campus, specifically citing attacks on Jewish students and broader collaboration with the Chinese Communist Party.
The administration gave Harvard 72 hours to submit the requested documents to regain its SEVP status.
Roughly 27% of Harvard’s student body consists of international students – many of whom would be required to transfer or leave the country if the ban remains in place. Harvard is seeking a temporary restraining order to block enforcement while the lawsuit proceeds.
The lawsuit is the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on elite universities it accuses of promoting left-wing ideologies. Last month, the White House froze over $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard over the school’s refusal to dismantle its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and failure to address antisemitism on campus.
A report by the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance (HJAA), released last May, claimed that the university had “systemically planted and spread the seeds of hatred for Israel and Jews well before October 7th, 2023.”
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson defended the administration’s actions Friday.
In a statement to CNN, Jackson said, “They have repeatedly failed to take action to address the widespread problems negatively impacting American students and now they must face the consequences of their actions.”
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