The Federal enforcement agencies in the United States have arrested 90 students, mostly from India, who had enrolled into a fake university which was set up by the US government to check immigration fraud, media reports said.
The institution was set up by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) section of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), originally to catch those who enrolled students on false premises, and students got caught in the process.
The ICE has so far arrested 250 students who were lured to enrol in the now-closed University of Farmington in the Detroit Metropolitan area. The ICE had earlier in March this year arrested 161 students from the fake university established by it. When it was closed in March, there were 600 students, mostly Indians, who were enrolled in it.
The latest news of the arrest of more students in recent months, first reported by the Detroit Free Press on Tuesday, has resulted in outrage on social media platforms, with #Abolish ICE hashtag gaining ground on Twitter.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading Democratic Presidential candidate described the move as “cruel”. “This is cruel and appalling,” she twitted. “These students simply dreamed of getting high-quality higher education America can offer. ICE deceived and entrapped them, just to deport them,” the senator said.
According to a spokesperson of ICE, of the 250 students arrested so far, “nearly 80 per cent were granted voluntary departure.” Of the remaining 20 Per cent, about half of them have received a final order of removal, the official was quoted as saying.
The ICE had filed criminal charge-sheet against eight recruiters, out of which seven have pleaded guilty. These recruiters have been indicted for conspiracy to commit visa fraud and harbouring aliens for profit by US Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Students who had enrolled in the university, a significant number of them from India, came to the US legally on a valid visa issued by the US embassy in India.
“The US trapped the vulnerable people who just wanted to maintain (legal immigration) status,” Rahul Reddy, a Texas attorney who represented or advised some of the students, told the to the Detroit Free Journal. “They preyed upon them,” he alleged.
Federal prosecutors though claim that the students knew this was a fake university as there were no classes.
According to the media reports, the fake university charged around $2,500 per quarter for Graduate Programme, whereas the average cost is $1,000.
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