A coalition of higher education groups filed a federal lawsuit in Boston on Monday challenging new federal restrictions that have already forced Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Boston University, and Suffolk University to pause internship approvals for international students. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, argues that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement abruptly rewrote more than three decades of standard practice governing how foreign students can work while earning academic credit.
The lawsuit was brought by the Association of American Universities, the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, NAFSA: Association of International Educators, and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, according to a statement from the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. As reported by The Boston Globe, the dispute centers on Curricular Practical Training, or CPT, a program that lets international students take internships, co-ops, and other temporary work tied to their studies without a separate federal work permit. Harvard, MIT, BU, Tufts, and Suffolk paused new and pending CPT authorization requests ahead of this fall, per the Globe's reporting.
A Sudden Shift in Interpretation
ICE emailed broadcast messages to university administrators on August 12 and August 24 that changed how CPT requirements are enforced, the Globe reported. The messages announced that students are now eligible for CPT only when the work opportunity is a graduation requirement for all students in the degree program, regardless of citizenship — a sharp departure from the prior practice of allowing elective internships for academic credit. CPT allows international students to take internships, co-ops, and other temporary work tied to their studies without a separate federal work permit.
ICE's messages introduced a new interpretation of CPT requirements. The Student and Exchange Visitor Program said it had observed a rise in schools issuing CPT authorizations that, in its view, violate the requirement that work experience be an integral part of an established curriculum, and ICE warned that institutions violating the standard could face investigation and lose their certification to enroll international students, according to the Globe.
Sudden Freeze Disrupts Students Mid-Internship
Rob McCarron, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, said the ICE messages caused substantial disruptions on campuses across the state, according to the Globe's reporting. “This is another attempt to dissuade talented international students from continuing their education in America,” McCarron said, per the same account.
The Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration claimed some students lost work positions they had already secured months earlier. Plaintiffs said the new interpretation left long-standing campus practices, including co-op systems, in limbo, and that schools were not given adequate time to respond or offer public comment before the change took effect. The lawsuit also alleges that ICE communications threatened university designated school officials — employees responsible for advising international students and ensuring compliance — with both institutional penalties and personal liability, the Globe reported.
Beyond Massachusetts: A Nationwide Freeze
The freeze on CPT isn't confined to Massachusetts. Following the August ICE messages, major public universities including the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California, Irvine temporarily halted elective CPT approvals before restricting the program solely to mandatory graduation requirements, according to The Daily Cardinal. University of California system schools, including UC Berkeley, paused course-credit work experiences altogether, the Globe reported.
Economic Stakes for Massachusetts Campuses
The financial stakes for Massachusetts are considerable. International students contributed an estimated $3.9 billion to the Commonwealth's economy in 2023 through tuition, housing, and living expenses, according to Boston Indicators, which found the state gains $547 per resident from international students—more than four times the national level.
Meanwhile, national survey data showed a 17% drop in new international student enrollments for the 2025 academic year, the first overall decline after four straight years of post-pandemic growth, according to the American Council on Education.
Part of a Broader Legal Fight
The lawsuit's filing in Boston is no coincidence. The Presidents' Alliance and other plaintiffs previously sued the Department of Homeland Security over limits on how long international students can stay on certain visas, a case that remains ongoing. That earlier fight produced a win for the plaintiffs last month, when U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV issued a nationwide injunction blocking a separate DHS rule that would have capped F-1 visas at fixed four-year terms instead of open-ended duration of status — though that ruling did not touch the separate CPT guidance now being challenged.
The new lawsuit includes a motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to force the government to immediately halt the CPT changes while the case proceeds, according to the Globe's reporting. The legal pushback comes as Massachusetts universities face mounting federal pressure on multiple fronts, including Harvard's ongoing battle over billions in federal funding now before an appeals court.
