Fake US university sting operation, 8 agents indicted, students face deportation

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 2: Eight agents have been detained for aiding hundreds of foreign nationals to remain in USA with fake student identity. The students have also been detained and now face deportation. Majority of the students belong to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in order to crack down the illegal immigration had established University of Farmington, Michigan in which almost 600 'students' enrolled. The students were in the US under a student visa – the F-1 visa. However, while on student visas, they were working in US through a work-study program called Curriculum Practical Training, instead of studying.

The eight agents, mostly Indians, have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and harboring aliens for profit.

There are a number of such universities in the USA which admit foreign students on what is known as the 'pay to stay' scheme. These universities allows foreigners who have entered the country legally as a student and then let them stay as an enrolled in a full-time educational program while they live and work in the United States under a student visa.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been cracking down on such universities. In 2016, the ICE had arrested 10 Indian and 11 Chinese nationals for a similar visa fraud.