Hundreds of Indian students may be deported from US

Washington (PTI) Hundreds of Indian students,
mostly from India's southern region Andhra Pradesh, face the
prospect of deportation from the US after authorities raided
and shut down a university in the Silicon Valley on charges of
a massive immigration fraud.
The Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton, a major suburb
in San Francisco Bay Area, has been charged by federal
investigating authorities with being part of an effort to
defraud, misuse visa permits and indulge in money laundering
and other crimes.
According to a federal complaint filed in a California
court, the University, which was raided and shut down last
week, helped foreign nationals illegally acquire immigration
status.
The university is said to have 1,555 students. As many as
95 per cent of these students are Indian nationals, the
complaint said.
Investigations by Immigration and Custom Enforcement
(ICE) found that while students were admitted to various
residential and online courses of the university and on paper
lived in California, in reality they "illegally" worked in
various parts of the country as far as Maryland, Virginia,
Pennsylvania, and Texas.
ICE has called it as a "sham university."
The ICE investigations found that more than half of these
students were reported to be residing in a single apartment
located in Sunnyvale California.
During the course of the investigation ICE found that the
university gave the residential address of its students in
order to conceal that they did not live in California, said
the court papers.
For a student to maintain an active immigration status,
they must show proof that they are making reasonable process
towards completing coursework and physically attend classes.
Federal investigating authorities are now sweeping out on
each of those students, who paid lakhs for obtaining students
visa and also students work permit.
Several of them have been interrogated, creating a panic
reaction among the Indian student community.
Many of the students from Andhra Pradesh, who were
planning to join the university for the new semester, have
cancelled their US travel plans.
Classes were scheduled to start on January 10 after the
winter break.
It is understood that many of these students are planning
to leave the country as soon as possible as they are being
interrogated.