‘Students arrested in visa sting face civil immigration charges’

Washington: The 130 students arrested so far in a “pay-to-stay” sting operation using a fake university face only civil immigration charges, according to media reports. “We have arrested 130 foreign nationals on civil immigration charges,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson Carissa Cutrell was quoted as telling the Detroit Free Press on Thursday. She added that more of them could be arrested. Those students who knowingly participated in scam knowing it was not a genuine academic programme face deportation.

Eight people who allegedly ran the scam as recruiters of the students face criminal charges of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and harbouring aliens for profit and face maximum sentences of five years, according to the ICE service. Documents filed in court by federal prosecutors said as many as 600 students were enrolled at the fake institution, University of Farmington, set up by immigration officials for the sting operation to catch student visa fraud.

Prosecutors called it a “pay-to-stay” scam because the students paid the recruiters to get documents from from the fake university to enable them to stay on in a student visa without attending classes. Court documents show that the recruiters were paid between $5,000 and $20,000 at meetings with Homeland Security Investigations agents involved in the university for recruiting the students. Shiva Kumar, the chairperson of SEVA, the American Telugu Association’s legal assistance programme, told that they were working with the affected students to provide them help. He said that he had met India’s Ambassador Harsh Vardhan Shringla to ask for help for the students.

The Detroit News said that six alleged recruiters, who were arrested locally, were produced in a local federal court on Thursday wearing ankle chains and handcuffs. Federal Magistrate Judge David Grand ordered them held without bail. On Monday the court will hear lawyers’ arguments on whether they should be jailed pending their trial. The Free Press said the students were arrested in early morning raids in New Jersey, Atlanta, Houston, Michigan, California, Louisiana, North Carolina and Missouri states. The students had come to the US on legitimate student visas but did not fulfil the condition of attending universities for the required classes making their continued stay illegal, which would be compounded if they worked. Many of the students enrolled in the university were students who had transferred from other universities, according to media reports. (IANS)

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