[The American authorities said this past week that they had indicted eight people accused of exploiting the country’s student visa system. They were said to have helped foreign nationals illegally remain in the United States by enrolling them into the University of Farmington in Farmington Hills, Mich., which billed itself as a “nationally accredited business and STEM institution” with an innovative curriculum, flexible class schedules and a diverse student body.]
By Reuters
 |
|
Federal
agents created a fake university in Farmington Hills, Mich., as part
of a
sting operation to expose immigration fraud.
|
NEW
DELHI — India has lodged a
protest with the United States government after several Indian students were
detained there in connection with their enrollment in a fake university,
following an undercover operation.
The American authorities said this past week
that they had indicted eight people accused of exploiting the country’s student
visa system. They were said to have helped foreign nationals illegally remain
in the United States by enrolling them into the University of Farmington in
Farmington Hills, Mich., which billed itself as a “nationally accredited
business and STEM institution” with an innovative curriculum, flexible class
schedules and a diverse student body.
But the private university was being secretly
operated by agents of the Department of Homeland Security to expose immigration
fraud, according to federal prosecutors who announced charges in the case.
The Indian government said on Saturday that
it had issued a rare “démarche” to the United States Embassy in New Delhi,
telling it that Indian officials needed immediate consular access to the
detainees.
“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,” the Indian Foreign Ministry said in
a statement.
The Indian government also urged the United
States to release the students from detention, without deporting them.
Though the American government did not
disclose the nationalities of those involved, the Indian Foreign Ministry said
on Saturday that “several Indian students” had been detained. Indian news
outlets reported that more than 100 students had been held in the United
States.
In a statement on Jan. 30, the Immigration
and Customs Enforcement said eight people had been charged with conspiracy to
commit visa fraud and harboring aliens for profit.
“Homeland Security Investigations special
agents uncovered a nationwide network that grossly exploited U.S. immigration
laws,” Steve Francis, the Homeland Security Investigations special agent in
charge, said in the statement. “These suspects aided hundreds of foreign
nationals to remain in the United States illegally by helping to portray them
as students, which they most certainly were not.”
The agency said that the defendants had
collectively profited in excess of $250,000.
The university in the Detroit area was
operated for almost two years by special agents as part of an undercover
operation starting in 2017, the statement said.
“All participants in the scheme knew that the
school had no instructors or actual classes,” it said.
China, India and South Korea together sent
56.1 percent of all international students in the United States in 2017-18, an
annual survey by the Institute of International Education showed last year.
