DHS Sets Up Fake University in Undercover Sting, 130 Foreign Nationals Arrested
The Department of Homeland Security has made several arrests after it set up a fake university in Michigan as part of its efforts to catch immigration law violators.
Eight people were arrested Wednesday morning and charged for their roles in a scheme that let hundreds of foreign students stay in the United States illegally, according to federal prosecutors. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has since arrested 130 foreign students on civil immigration charges, ICE spokesperson Carissa Cutrell told the Detroit Free Press.
The University of Farmington had a logo and website, but it had no students, teachers, or classes. However, it did have office staff who really were undercover DHS agents.
And it was popular. According to Detroit News, more than 600 foreign students were recruited for the college by the eight people arrested Wednesday.
“These suspects aided hundreds of foreign nationals to remain in the United States illegally by helping to portray them as students, which they most certainly were not,” said Steve Francis, special agent in charge of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations office in Detroit.
“From approximately February 2017 through January 2019, the defendants, a group of foreign citizens acting in concert with each other and others, assisted at least 600 other foreign citizens to illegally remain, re-enter, and work in the United States, and actively recruited them to enroll into a fraudulent school as part of a ‘pay to stay’ scheme. Because of their recruiting success, this alliance collectively profited in excess of quarter of a million dollars,” the indictment said, according to Michigan Radio.
The students enrolled to obtain jobs under a student visa program that allows students to work in the U.S., prosecutors said.
“The university was being used by foreign citizens as a ‘pay to stay’ scheme which allowed these individuals to stay in the United States as a result of foreign citizens falsely asserting that they were enrolled as full-time students in an approved educational program and that they were making normal progress toward completion of the course of study,” the indictment added.
The recruiters helped to fraudulently obtain immigration documents as well as fake student records.
In exchange, the recruiters collectively pocketed $250,000, according to the charges.
The students knew something was shady, the indictment said.
Students “knew that they would not attend any actual classes, earn credits or make academic progress toward an actual degree,” read an indictment. “Each student knew that the University’s program was not approved by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was illegal, and that discretion should be used when discussing the program with others.”
A spokesman for ICE told the Detroit News that any students arrested on immigration violations could face possible deportation.
Prosecutors said that many of the students and recruiters are originally from India.
“We are all aware that international students can be a valuable asset to our country, but as this case shows, the well-intended international student visa program can also be exploited and abused,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said in a statement, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
