Canadians’ future at Harvard in question after Trump bans international students

By Canadian Press on May 23, 2025.

Hundreds of Canadians could potentially be caught up in the fight between President Donald Trump and prestigious Harvard University over international student enrollment.

The school did not immediately have a current count of Canadians studying there, but numbers on its website from 2022 show there were 686 enrolled at that time.

Harvard University filed a lawsuit Friday morning in federal court in Boston challenging the Trump administration’s decision to bar the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students.

The school called the decision unconstitutional retaliation for defying the White House’s political demands.

Harvard said the government’s action violates the First Amendment and will have an immediate and devastating effect on more than 7,000 student visa holders at the school.

It said it plans to file for a temporary restraining order to block the Department of Homeland Security from carrying out the move.

The department announced the action Thursday, accusing Harvard of creating an unsafe campus environment 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 recently as 2024.

Harvard enrolls almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Mass. Most are graduate students and they come from more than 100 countries.

— With files from the Associated Press.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2025.

The Canadian Press