Students sue over Florida law limiting research exchanges with China, Iran

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis discusses how Florida law officials stopped a boat carrying 25 Haitian illegal migrants on ‘Hannity.’

Two graduate students from China whose studies were put on hold, and a professor who says he is unable to recruit research assistants, sued Florida education officials on Monday, trying to stop enforcement of a new state law which limits research exchanges between state universities and academics from seven prohibited countries.

The law passed last year by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis was designed to stop the Chinese Communist government and others from influencing the state’s public colleges and universities. The countries on the prohibited list are China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Syria, and Venezuela.

The law is discriminatory, unconstitutional and reminiscent of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which instituted a 10-year ban on Chinese laborers immigrating to the United States, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Miami.

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The new law also usurps the power of the federal government, which has exclusive authority over immigration, national security and foreign affairs, the lawsuit said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media on March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida. A new Florida law which limits research exchanges between state universities and academics from seven prohibited countries is being challenged in court. (AP Photo/Phil Sears, File)

The law has forced two of the plaintiffs who are from China to put their graduate studies at Florida International University on hold and denied them