Hundreds of Indian students may have been victims in an elaborate fraud scheme, according to a complaint filed against a university in California by the United States attorney's office.
The Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton was raided and shut down indefinitely by the federal agents on January 19.
The US attorney's office has filed a complaint alleging that Tri-Valley University is part of an effort to defraud, misuse visa permits, indulge in money laundering and other crimes.
The university has 1,555 students. According to the San Jose Mercury News, the complaint calls Tri-Valley a 'sham university' which Susan Su, the university's chief executive officer and her associates have used to help foreign nationals illegally acquire immigration status.
The complaint aims to forfeit five properties, including the university building and several properties in Pleasanton and Livermore in the San Francisco bay area.
Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials started investigating the Tri-Valley University case in May 2010.
According to the report, during the investigations, ICE found that 95 percent of the 1,555 students in active status were Indian. It found the university had claimed that more than half of them lived at an apartment in Sunnyvale.
The apartment manager reportedly told ICE agents that four students lived there from June 2007 to August 2009 and none thereafter.
Located in Pleasanton, the Tri-Valley University describes itself as a Christian Higher Education Institution aiming to offer academic programmes in the context of the Christian faith.
It offers academic programmes in engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering, law, medicine as well as a Master's in Business Administration and certificate programmes. It also offers online courses and was licensed to operate in Pleasanton.
According to State of California Education Code with the Bureau for Private Post-Secondary and Vocation Education, California has a state religious exemption provision. The Tri-Valley University is also authorised by the federal government to admit international students and to issue I-20s for those on student visas (F-1).
However, the ICE states in its complaint that the university is not accredited.
Meanwhile, with the federal officials have been looking for the university's students and have interrogated many of them who could be located.
The university's problems are a nightmare for many past and present students across the country, said immigration attorney Ashwani Bhakhri who works in the San Francisco bay area.
"One student called me today and began crying, 'I have done nothing wrong. I do not want my name to be tainted." She told the attorney that her life was dependent on her education.
"It looks like the university was violating US law," said Bhakhri, who is planning to fight the case for the students who he asserts are innocent.
Bhakhri said the problem is that once a university is shut down, the students, who come on F-1 visas, lose their status. He wants to request the USCIS to give the students some time to make other arrangements.
A student in Virginia who wished to remain anonymous, said he has spent $6,000 (around Rs 2 lakhs 74 thousand) to enroll for online classes in 2010 and now they have shut down the college.
He said he came to study electrical engineering, but, finding that hard, decided to enroll in information technology instead. "Now I am in a panic situation," he said.
Many students in Virginia, Dallas, Ohio and Chicago fear they will be arrested and deported and their careers ruined.
Community organisations like the Telugu Association of North America and the American Telugu Association have been trying to help students by giving them information about available attorneys.
TANA President Jayaram Komati said, "They are just students. They have not done anything wrong. Whatever (issues of) legality are there with the university, these students are been victimised now. I hope the immigration officials will take the right decision and not ruin their career."
ATA President Dr Rajender Jinna in Virginia said in an email that ATA would help arrange for legal help.
"We are also in touch with the students of Tri-Valley University and giving them necessary assistance," he wrote.
