According to official sources on November 28, the US federal law enforcement agencies have arrested 90 more foreign students, mostly Indians, taking the total number of students held so far to over 250 from a fake university set up by the authorities to check immigration fraud.
In March this year, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE had arrested 161 students from the fake university established by it in the US state of Michigan.
The latest news of arrest of additional 90 students, first reported on Tuesday by the ”Detroit Free Press”, has resulted in mass outrage with #AbolishICE hashtag gaining ground on Twitter and other social media platforms on Wednesday.
When the fictitious university closed down in March, there were 600 students, mostly Indians, enrolled in it.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has so far arrested more than 250 students, who were lured to enroll in the now-closed University of Farmington in the Detroit metropolitan area by the Department of Homeland Security.
According to an ICE spokesperson, of the 250 students arrested so far “nearly 80 per cent were granted voluntary departure and departed the United States.”
Of the remaining 20 per cent, about half of them have received a final order of removal.
Federal prosecutors claim that the students knew that this was a fake university as there were no classes.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading Democratic presidential candidate, described the move as “cruel”.
“This is cruel and appalling,” she said in a tweet. “These students simply dreamed of getting the high-quality higher education America can offer. ICE deceived and entrapped them, just to deport them,” Warren said.
The ICE had filed criminal charge sheet against eight recruiters and seven of them have pleaded guilty.
The eight recruiters have been indicted for conspiracy to commit visa fraud and harbouring aliens for profit by the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Source: PTI
Posted in International
