Several fake Indian students have been detained and eight agents have been arrested in a special operation carried out by the authorities in the United States in a bid to catch those who exploit student visas.
An extensive investigation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has resulted in arrest of eight agents who allegedly committed visa fraud by facilitating student visa for hundreds of foreign nationals by enrolling them into a ‘private university’, which unknown to them, was an undercover operation by HSI special agents.
HSI special agents floated a fake university - the University of Farmington in Michigan, Detroit in a bid to uncover a nationwide network ‘that grossly exploited US Immigration laws’.
The university website claimed ‘an innovative STEM curriculum’ with reasonable tuition fees between $8,500 and $11,000 a year. But there were no classes, no staff and no students.
Last week, eight recruiters were indicted - Barath Kakireddy, Suresh Kandala, Phanideep Karnati, Prem Rampeesa, Santosh Sama, Avinash Thakkallapally, Aswanth Nune and Naveen Prathipati, who assisted foreign citizen “students” in fraudulently obtaining immigration documents from the school and facilitated the creation of false student records, including transcripts, for the purpose of deceiving immigration authorities.
“All participants in the scheme knew that the school had no instructors or actual classes. The defendants intended to help shield and hide their customers/"students" from United States immigration authorities for money and collectively profited in excess of a quarter of a million dollars as a result of their scheme.
"We are all aware that international students can be a valuable asset to our country, but as this case shows, the well-intended international student visa program can also be exploited and abused,” stated United States Attorney Matthew Schneider.
Source: SBS
"Do not deport them against their will"
Several Indian students have been detained by the US authorities in connection with their enrolment at this fake university.
While the US authorities have not disclosed the nationalities, the Indian government said ‘several Indian students’ have been detained.
The Indian authorities have urged the US government to release the students from detention and not deport them.
“We underlined that students, who may have been duped into enrolling in the ‘University’ should be treated differently from those recruiters who have duped them.
“We have urged the U.S. side to share full details and regular updates of the students with the Government, to release them from detention at the earliest and not to resort to deportation against their will,” a statement from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said.
“So far, about 30 Indian students have been contacted by our consular officers. Efforts to contact the remaining Indian students are continuing,” the MEA said, adding that a 24-hour helpline has been established for assistance.
