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Washington: US
immigration authorities removed radio tags of a couple of Indian
students of a sham university in California as it asked all duped
students to contact them directly to find out their options.
Ankle bracelet monitors of two of the 18 tagged students of
California-based Tri Valley University (TVU), some 90 percent of
them from India, mostly Andhra Pradesh, were removed after they
went to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with an
immigration attorney.
Immigration attorney, Kalpana Peddibhotla plans to take some more
Indian students to ICE next week "and is optimistic that this
might have positive outcome as well," according to an Indian
official.
The students had attended a free legal aid camp organised by the
Indian Consulate in San Francisco in association with the South
Asian Bar Association.
Over 1,500 TVU students of face the prospect of deportation
following the closure of the school on charges of visa fraud
unless they can get admission in another institution
For a student to maintain an active immigration status, they must
show proof that they are making reasonable process toward
completing coursework and physically attend classes.
Meanwhile, ICE has offered the students essentially three options:
First, Report to ICE to be processed for voluntary departure from
the United States; Second, departing the US on their own; and
Third, file for reinstatement with US Citizenship and Immigration
Services.
The first option allows the students "to leave under their own
power on a day of their choice, to remain in the United States
without fear of being arrested while waiting to depart, and keeps
their immigration history clean," according to ICE spokesman
Virginia Kice.
ICE has posted an advisory on the Student and Exchange Visitor
Programme (SEVP) link on ICE's website -- http://www.ice.gov/sevis/tri-valley-110118.htm-to
tell students how to contact an SEVP representative to obtain
information about their options.
"When you call, SEVP will provide you with your options including
the option to depart from the United States without an otherwise
possibly applicable bar to re-admission in the future," says the
advisory issued to the TVU students.
ICE has also informed all schools and colleges that SEVP had
either cancelled or terminated all initial, active and transfer-in
student records associated with TVU.
If a former TVU student applies for acceptance at another school,
it is the responsibility of the school/college authorities to
obtain an enrolment application and all subsidiary documents
typically requested in order to make an admissions decision,
including an assessment of the student's finances.
"And they must maintain these documents in the F-1 student's
academic record," the memo to schools said.
"If a student gains admission, a designated school official should
contact the SEVP Help Desk at 800-892-4829 or SEVIShelpdesk@hp.com
to manage the student record. Do not initiate a new SEVIS record
for the student," it said.
ICE has also informed schools and colleges across the country that
the employment authorisation for F-1 students at TVU terminated
Jan 19.
According to a federal complaint filed in a California court in
January, the University helped foreign nationals illegally acquire
immigration status.
The complaint alleged that while students were admitted to various
residential and on-line courses of the university and on paper
lived in California, in reality they "illegally" worked in places
as far away as Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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