The United Auto Workers and American Federation of Teachers are joining college groups in suing over new Trump restrictions on admission periods for international students.
A Department of Homeland Security rule restricting international students’ to four years in the US violates the Administrative Procedure Act, the challengers argue in a complaint filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
The DHS rule, finalized last month, eliminates the framework in place for decades known as duration of status, which allowed F-1 students to remain in authorized status as long as they were making adequate progress toward completing their degree.
The regulation requires students to seek extensions when their admission period expires. Exchange visitors with J-1 visas will also be limited to admission periods up to four years and media members on I visas would get 240 days before having to renew their status.
The agency said more regular vetting of foreign students was necessary to address national security concerns involving the F-1 program. But groups led by NAFSA: Association of International Educators and the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration said DHS didn’t adequately weigh the costs of the policy change or respond to public comments.
The time limits don’t match students’ educational needs, adding burdens on colleges and making the US less competitive for global talent, said Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. The suit asks the court to block the DHS rule before it takes effect Sept. 15.
“We are going to court to protect international students and scholars and to defend our member institutions’ ability to educate, train, and retain them,” Feldblum said in a statement.
UAW President Shawn Fain said international students and scholars “shouldn’t have to navigate an immigration system designed to disrupt their education, research, and lives.”
The Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts; Graduate Labor Organization, AFT Local 6516; United Auto Workers Local 2322; and NewsGuild-CWA also joined the suit as plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs are represented by McDermott Will & Schulte.
A DHS spokesperson called the challenge “performative outrage.” The Trump administration was cracking down on “rampant fraud to ensure only those truly intending to study in the United States are given the privilege,” they added.
The case is Presidents’ All. on Higher Educ. and Immigr. v. DHS, D. Mass., No. 1:26-cv-13799, complaint filed 8/18/26.