Harvard University is suing President Donald Trump's administration over its decision to prohibit it from enrolling foreign students, the Associated Press reports.

The lawsuit, which was filed in a Boston federal court, claims that the government violated the First Amendment by implementing the ban, which it said would have “immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders.”

“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,” Harvard said in the lawsuit.

The Ivy League school, which enrolls an estimated 6,800 foreign students, most of which are graduate students from more than 100 countries, plans to file for a temporary restraining order to block the Department of Homeland Security from carrying out the move. The Department of Homeland Security announced its action against Harvard amid accusations that it created an unsafe campus by allowing "anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators" to assault Jewish students and coordinated with the Chinese Communist Party as it had hosted and trained members of a Chinese paramilitary group as recently as last year.

Harvard President Alan Garber said that the college had made changes to its governance in the last year and a half, which included a strategy to combat antisemitism, but wouldn't budge on "its core, legally-protected principles" over fears of retaliation from the Trump administration last month and would address concerns by House Republicans about alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party at a later time. Trump had previously announced his plan to take away Harvard's tax exempt status earlier this month.

"We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on May 2.

The president's announcement came weeks after his administration froze multiyear federal grants worth $2.2 billion over Harvard University's refusal to suppress alleged antisemitism stemming from protests of the Israel-Hamas war, as well as its use of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), on its campus.

Garber had publicly stated that taking away its tax-exempt status would be unlawful and endanger "our ability to carry out our educational mission" via ABC News.

“We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement,” Garber said in a statement responding to the Trump administration's freezing of $2.2 billion in grants last month. “The University will not surrender its independence or its constitutional rights.

"The administration’s prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government. It violates Harvard’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI. And it threatens our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge. No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue."

Vicki McKenna