Concerned over the plight of scores of Indian students radio-tagged by US authorities after being duped by a “sham” university, the Indian embassy here has asked the Obama administration to ensure that none of them is victimised and also launched an email helpline for them.
The students, mostly from Andhra Pradesh, are facing the prospect of deportation as authorities last week shut down the Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton, a major suburb in San Francisco Bay Area, on charges of a massive immigration fraud.
These students are now frantically knocking at the doors of colleges begging for admission in their desperate attempt to save their academic careers and avoid deportation. Following a raid at the university last week, federal authorities swooped down on its students — 95 per cent of whom are from India, for questioning and interrogation.
Immigration attorneys and Indian-American community leaders, who have been helping these students, said that scores of them had been detained and released on bond and many of them installed with intensive supervision appearance programme or radio tags. “Time is fast running out for these students,” said Ram Mohan Konda of the American Telugu Association.
“These students do not know where to go. They are being asked for thousands of dollars in bond. At the same time they have to join any university as soon as possible so as to maintain their visa status and complete their studies,” Mr Konda said.
Strongly taking up the matter with the state department and other concerned departments, the Indian embassy asked the US government to ensure that none of the Indian students affected by the immigration scam of Tri Valley University is victimised. The embassy and its consulates in New York and San Francisco have taken up the matter with US authorities.