‘US govt misled Indian students caught in visa scam by setting up fake university’

Agencies
February 6, 2019

Washington, Feb 6: Flooded with phone calls from panic-stricken students, an eminent Indian American attorney on Tuesday alleged that Department of Homeland Security knowingly allowed the "fake university" to be set up and misled students sitting hundreds of miles away in another country.

A day after the State Department blamed Indian students for the mass detention and possible deportation from the US for enrolling themselves in a fake university set up by the Department of Homeland Security, California-based immigration attorney Anu Peshawaria said that the undercover operation has devastating consequences for hundreds of Indian students.

"We are not saying that our students are not at fault. They should have done their due diligence before signing up. If they are perpetrating crime knowingly, they should be punished but if they are trapped or encouraged to commit the crime then we need to help them,” Peshawaria said.

As per last week's figures provided by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as many as 130 of the 600 students from the fake University of Farmington were detained last week. Of these 129 were Indians.

Many of them since then have been released or put under restricted movement. Several of them have left the country.

Peshawaria said that some students are worried that they will have arrest on their record for ever and have lost years of education to no avail.

"They could be possible blackmail for the rest of their lives. What is surprising is that the university was registered with the education board that authorizes the issuance of I-20s to students, which in turn is approved by the Department of Homeland Security," she said.

"Department of Homeland Security knowingly allowed the 'fake university' to be set up and misled students sitting hundreds of miles away in another country, she said noting that her office has been receiving numerous calls from panic-stricken friends and families of a large number of Indian students which could result in mass deportation.

Worse, these students, based on their approved i-20s even got driver licenses from the US Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). This only added another stamp of authenticity to the credentials of the university, she asserted.

Many students travelled to meet the Dean of the University, which has now been closed, many of them asked for classes curriculum, she said.

"Given that authorities knew this was a set-up, they should have stopped the students there and then. If they wanted to catch the perpetrators what right do, they have to defraud innocent lives," Peshawaria said.

"In fact, during this time the government also enjoyed taxes that these consultants paid. Now, they cannot suddenly wake up and decide to put all these people behind bars," Peshawaria added. 

Many students have huge loans to pay, she said based on her interaction with these students. They were saving up to send to their families in a small village in India, she said adding that they are devastated.

"It is all easy to say that students knew what they were doing, did we all know all the laws when we moved to United States that they should get such harsh punishment, she asked. 

"We are all fighting to release the students immediately. The students are calling me that US govt is forcing them to self deport but they want back their degrees and lost time and compensation for pain and anguish," Peshawaria asserted.

Comments

SD
 - 
Saturday, 9 Feb 2019

Whem the country runs by afake degree PM . Cant blame the students they are following their leader.

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News Network
June 4,2020

Beijing, Jun 4: Around 40 students and staff members of a primary school in China were stabbed by a security guard, official media reported today.

The incident happened at a school in China's Guangxi province, state-run China Daily said in a brief report.

Further details about the attack are awaited.

Knife attacks by disgruntled people have been taking place in different parts of China in the past few years, reported news agency Press Trust of India.

The attackers targeted mainly kindergarten and primary schools besides public transport, the news agency reported.

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News Network
March 30,2020

Geneva, Mar 30: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has reached 634,835, among them 29,957 fatalities, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday.

Over the past 24 hours, 63,159 people were confirmed to be infected with the novel coronavirus and 3,464 people died, the WHO said.

According to the latest situation report, the majority of the confirmed cases - more than 361,000 - are presently concentrated in Europe, with Italy leading the tally with over 92,000 cases, followed by Spain with over 72,000 cases, and Germany with over 52,000 cases.

Italy and Spain are also the countries that top the worldwide death toll from COVID-19, with 10,023 and 5,690 fatalities, respectively.

The second most affected region is currently the Americas with over 120,000 verified COVID-19 cases, of which the majority - over 103,000 - have been found in the United States. The US is also the country with the highest single tally of COVID-19 cases at the moment.
The WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Aboard Air Force One, Jan 6: US President Donald Trump threatened sanctions against Baghdad on Sunday after Iraq's parliament called on US troops to leave the country, and the president said if troops did leave, Baghdad would have to pay Washington for the cost of the air base there.

"We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that's there. It cost billions of dollars to build, long before my time. We're not leaving unless they pay us back for it," Trump told reporters on Air Force One.

Trump said that if Iraq asked US forces to leave and it was not done on a friendly basis, "we will charge them sanctions like they've never seen before ever. It'll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame."

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