Indians arrested, students detained in U.S. on visa fraud charges
Indians arrested, students detained in U.S. on visa fraud charges
Sriram LakshmanWASHINGTON:, JANUARY 31, 2019 08:08 ISTUPDATED: JANUARY 31, 2019 10:41 IST
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They allegedly assisted foreign 'students' in fraudulently obtaining immigration documents from the varsity and facilitated the creation of false student records.
At least eight people – all either Indian citizens or of Indian origin – have been arrested across cities in the U.S. in connection with visa fraud charges according to the US District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division, a statement from the office of U.S. Attorney for the District, Matthew Schneider, said. Six arrests were made in Detroit, one in Florida and one in Virginia.
In addition to the eight, an unspecified number of Indian students have been detained by the Department of Homeland Security in connection with the above case.
The indictments unsealed on Wednesday charged the eight individuals, “a group of foreign citizens”, with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and harbour aliens for profit. [It is highly likely that all eight are Indian citizens based on their names , their characterisation in the charge-sheet and discussions The Hindu has had with sources].
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents had posed as owners and employees of the University of Farmington in Farmington Hills, Michigan, approximately between June 2017 and January 2019 as part of an undercover operation to uncover immigration fraud, the indictment says. Students would pay to enroll in the University, giving the appearance that they were in approved educational programs and making normal progress towards getting a degree. However, the University neither had faculty nor any classes, the indictment says, and the students were aware of this.
The “pay to stay” scheme allowed them to maintain their student visa (F-1) status and obtain work permits as part of the Curricular Practical Training (CPT) option open to qualified F-1 visa students.
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One of the eight defendants, an Aswanth ( aka Ashwanth) Nune, is alleged to have made in excess of $25,000 via this scheme , and assisted at least 18 other foreign citizens, as per the charge-sheet reviewed by The Hindu. Mr. Nune, the charges go, enlisted foreign citizens at the university in return for cash, kickbacks, “scholarships” and course credit. Mr. Nune also allegedly helped foreign citizens maintain their student visa status and obtain employment authorization in the U.S.
The other seven individuals arrested are Barath Kakireddy, 29, of Lake Mary, FL, Suresh Kandala, 31, of Culpeper, Virginina, Phanideep Karnati, 35, of Louisville, Kentucky, Prem Rampeesa, 26, of Charlotte, North Carolina, Santosh Sama, 28, of Fremont, California, Avinash Thakkallapally, 28, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Aswanth Nune, 26, of Atlanta, Georgia and Naveen Prathipati, 26, of Dallas, Texas. If convicted, they could be jailed for up to five years.
“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, “Mr. Schneider said in a statement.
About 600 facilitated for illegal stay
The defendants helped at least 600 foreign citizens as per one of the indictments, The Detroit Free Press reported. This means the number of “students” who will eventually be detained could run into the hundreds, and it is likely the majority of them are Indian citizens. At least 36 arrests of individuals posing as students were confirmed, diplomatic source told The Hindu.
The Indian Embassy in Washington and Indian Consulates across the country have been in touch with Indian community and Indian student associations in the U.S. as well as U.S. authorities to provide those detained with consular assistance, the Indian Embassy told The Hindu.
One of the “students” arrested, Babu (full name withheld on request) was taken away at dawn by DHS agents who knocked on his door at about 6.00 AM on Wednesday, Karthik (full name withheld upon request) , an engineer who shares a flat with Babu and a third female house-mate told The Hindu. The Hindu was able to verify Karthik’s identity based on work information he provided.
The agents asked Babu where he was studying, what he was studying and whether he was taking online classes. Babu answered the last question in the affirmative but could not name any professors.
Babu spoke with Karthik in the afternoon on Wednesday and asked Karthik to contact a non-profit that could help him get an attorney. The number of the non-profit was provided to Babu by the authorities. Babu , who sounded scared and “pretty low” according to Karthik, could not identify where he had been detained. Karthik has also been in touch with the Indian Embassy in Washington, he said to The Hindu.
The University of Farmington has a website with details of its history, admissions and fees – which appear noticeably low. Graduate tuition per quarter is an estimated $2,500 or $10,000 per year compared to some $36,000 per year tuition at Michigan State for those who cannot claim state resident fees.
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, the ICE said.
“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 US Attorney Matthew Schneider.
According to the indictment, the university was being used by foreign citizens as a ‘pay to stay’ scheme which allowed these individuals to stay in the United States as full-time students in an “approved” educational program.
Each of the foreign citizen who enrolled and made tuition payments to the university knew that they would not attend accrual classes, earn credits or make progress towards an actual degree in a particular field of study — a pay to stay scheme, the indictment said.
“Rather their intent was to fraudulently maintain their student visa status and to obtain work authorization under the CPT program, the indictment said, claiming that each student knew that the university program was not approved by the Department of Homeland Security, was illegal and that discretion should be used when discussing the program with others.
It is the second such case when Department of Homeland Security has used a fake university to unearth a fake student visa racket.
In 2016, ICE had arrested some 21 people for similar charges for a fake University of Northern New Jersey.
Our Hyderabad correspondent R. Ravikanth Reddy adds:
ATA reaches out to students for counselling
The American Telugu Association (ATA) president, Parmesh Bheemreddy told The Hindu that affected students called up the ATA for guidance and help and the local ATA teams have reached out to Indian students Associations of various universities for counselling. The legal teams of ATA are also speaking to the affected students for legal help and counselling as they have been issued arrest warrants.
The ATA also met the Indian Ambassador Harshvardhan Shingla and the Indian Consulate General Swati Vijay Kulkarni in Atlanta to brief them and sought assistance for remediation efforts, Mr. Bheemreddy said.
According to Mr. Bheemreddy, this is not the first such incident and several foreign students including Indian students were arrested and deported in similar operations in Tri Valley University and Herguan University in California in 2011 and 2012. Some of them were given an option to change the University for continuing their education at that time. However, in this episode students may not get that opportunity as they willingly joined the fake university just to maintain their student status.
Mr. Bheemreddy said the ATA is conducting an Immigration seminar on January 31 with Immigration attorneys Ravi Mannam, Michael Sofo and Hemant Ramachandran and they will guide students how to avoid fake recruiters who promise illegal ways to stay in the USA through admissions in unaccredited colleges and universities. The attorneys will also discuss what constitutes violation of immigration laws and the right approach to be a legal immigrant.
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