Harvard University sued the Trump administration Friday, less than 24 hours after the Department of Homeland Security said it would block international students from attending the nation’s oldest university and one of its most prestigious.

Later Friday morning, at the university’s request, a federal judge in Boston moved swiftly to block implementation of the federal government’s order.

Judge Allison D. Burroughs issued a temporary restraining order against the federal edict, agreeing that Harvard had shown that its implementation would cause “immediate and irreparable injury” to the university.

A Battle Over International Students

The administration action, and Harvard’s response, signified a dramatic escalation of the battle between the administration and Harvard. And the university’s forceful and almost immediate response served as evidence that stopping the flow of international students to Harvard, which draws some of the world’s top scholars, would destabilize Harvard’s very existence.

In a letter to the Harvard community delivered Friday morning, Dr. Alan M. Garber, Harvard’s president, wrote, “We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action,” adding that it “imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard and serves as a warning to countless others at colleges and universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their education and fulfill their dreams.”

Claims of Retaliation

The lawsuit, which accused the Trump administration of a “campaign of retribution” against the university, followed an announcement Thursday that Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification had been revoked, halting the university’s ability to enroll international students.

The lawsuit was the second time in a matter of weeks the university had sued the federal government.

In the new lawsuit, the university accused the Trump administration of exerting “clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”

“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 said. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”

Ongoing Federal Investigations

The Trump administration has explained its attacks on Harvard and other top private universities as an effort to combat antisemitism and confront liberal biases on campus. During his campaign, Trump invoked the term “Marxist maniacs” to refer to the Ivy League.

After he was inaugurated, Trump’s administration has sought to use nearly every lever the federal government has at its disposal to force schools, Harvard especially, to bend to its will. There are now at least eight investigations into Harvard spanning at least six federal agencies.

Separately, the Trump administration had sought to use the federal government’s international student system as a way to remove foreign nationals from the country. Immigration officials targeted a handful of pro-Palestinian student activists, but also ended the legal status of hundreds of students, creating a general anxiety among international students at colleges and universities nationwide. (Most of those students have had their status restored, but a few high-profile cases are being argued in the courts.)

Harvard enrolls about 6,800 international students, or about 27% of its student body, and the administration edict could ultimately affect both existing students, who would need to find other schools to attend, and newly admitted Harvard students headed for the United States in the fall.

The administration’s announcement Thursday potentially upends students’ lives, and would also be a major financial blow to Harvard. With many of Harvard’s international students enrolled in high-cost graduate programs, the tuition generated by foreign students likely generates several hundred million dollars a year for the university.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Stephanie Saul/Sophie Park
c. 2025 The New York Times Company