Harvard sues the Trump administration over ban on enrolling foreign students

WASHINGTON AP Harvard University is challenging the Trump administration s decision to bar the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students calling it unconstitutional retaliation for defying the White House s political demands In a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in Boston Harvard noted the cabinet s action violates the First Amendment and will have an immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than visa holders With the stroke of a pen the governing body has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard s scholar body international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission Harvard declared in its suit The school declared it plans to file for a temporary restraining order to block the Department of Homeland Defense from carrying out the move Harvard enrolls almost foreign students at its campus in Cambridge Massachusetts The majority are graduate students and they come from more than countries The department communicated the action Thursday accusing Harvard of creating an unsafe campus setting by allowing anti-American pro-terrorist agitators to assault Jewish students on campus It also accused Harvard of coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party contending the school had hosted and trained members of a Chinese paramilitary group as in recent weeks as Harvard President Alan Garber earlier this month revealed the university has made changes to its governance over the past year and a half including a broad strategy to combat antisemitism He reported Harvard would not budge on its its core legally-protected principles over fears of retaliation Harvard has announced it will respond at a later time to accusations first raised by House Republicans about coordination with the Chinese Communist Party The threat to Harvard s international enrollment stems from an April request from Homeland Safeguard Secretary Kristi Noem who demanded that Harvard provide information about foreign students that might implicate them in violence or protests that could lead to their deportation Noem commented Harvard can regain its ability to host foreign students if it produces a trove of records on foreign students within hours Her updated request demands all records including audio or video footage of foreign students participating in protests or dangerous activity on campus The suit is separate from the university s earlier one challenging more than billion in federal cuts imposed by the Republican administration