21 arrests in student visa fraud conspiracy
Print Edition
THE United States has arrested 21 suspects on suspicion of visa fraud conspiracy for allowing more than 1,000 foreign students, primarily from China and India, to extend their stay in America illegally, prosecutors said.
Federal agents set up a fake university to ensnare the suspects in an operation spotlighting growing concern over visa fraud at a time when illegal immigration has become a major issue in the US presidential campaign.
Prosecutors said the recruiters, brokers and employers were charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit.
Homeland Security investigators set up the so-called University of Northern New Jersey in September 2013 in a bid to crack down on foreigners who maintain their non-immigrant status on false pretenses.
They staffed offices in Cranford, New Jersey with undercover agents posing as administrators, but there were no teachers, no curriculum and no classes, prosecutors said.
They reeled in suspects by pretending to have the authority to grant the certificate that allows foreigners to get a student visa.
The defendants then enrolled their foreign clients to fraudulently maintain their student visa status in exchange for kickbacks, prosecutors said.
They created false student records and diplomas, for which their clients paid, to deceive immigration authorities and allegedly used the fake university to fraudulently obtain work visas for hundreds of clients.
US authorities said they were working to terminate the visas for the foreigners in question and arrest them if necessary.
The suspects “recklessly exploited our immigration system for financial gain,” said prosecutor Paul Fishman. He said “Pay to Stay” schemes damage legitimate visa programs and “pose a very real threat to national security.”
Almost a million foreign students enrolled in US higher education programs in 2014-2015, up 10 percent on the previous year, the State Department has said. China and India accounted for 67 percent of the increase in international students, and constituted nearly 45 percent of the foreign students.
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