“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 filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts said. “Harvard’s certification is essential for each of Harvard’s thousands of international students to lawfully remain in this country while they complete coursework, obtain degrees, and continue critical research,” the suit said. The lawsuit called the revocation a “blatant violation of the First Amendment” and the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

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 said the government’s action violates the First Amendment and will have an “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 its suit. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”

The government restriction creates immediate and irreparable harm to the school and “imperils the future 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,” Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a letter to the community. On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security said it was yanking Harvard’s authority to enroll foreign students because it believed Harvard had failed to create a safe campus environment for students, especially Jewish ones, and alleged that many “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” on campus were foreign students. Harvard enrolls about 7,000 international students—more than 25% of the student body— and relies on their tuition payments, which are often full-fee. The Trump administration has already pulled billions of dollars in federal research funding from the school and threatened to revoke its tax exempt status, citing concerns about antisemitism and DEI.