Tag: ankle bracelet

The Saga Of The Students From India And Tri-valley University Continues

On By southwerkIn ethics4 Comments

Some of these students have had to wear ankle bracelets that electronically broadcast their location. I have a report that there were 18 students required to wear these and two of these have now been detained. Their appeal is unlikely to be heard until September. If you count the remainder of February, that is seven months wearing an ankle bracelet. What’s more it is long time to be in legal limbo, unable to attend another university or work.

This is from the Times of India –

The Indian students duped by a fake university in the US face an uncertain future as their appeal is not likely to be heard in a court there before September.

The 1,555 students, mostly from Andhra Pradesh, feel they are being subjected to inhuman treatment by the US authorities for no fault of theirs. They want the Indian government to immediately come to their rescue and help them transfer to other US universities.

The families of the students are worried as the US authorities have tied radio monitors to their ankles and may deport them for violation of visa rules.

The dreams of the students to pursue higher education in the US came crashing last week after the Tri-Valley University in California was raided for helping foreigners to illegally obtain student visas.

This is a program from an Indian law firm in the United States explaining the situation.

The government of India has expressed concern. This is from the DAILYBHASKAR.in.

Voicing concern over the welfare of Indian students affected by the closure of a California-based university, India on Friday asserted that students had valid visas and conveyed to the US that they should be given chance to clarify their position.

The students hold valid visas, a senior official said here on Friday, adding that India is hopeful they will be given adequate opportunity to clarify their position.

“Our immediate concern is the welfare of students. We are in touch with US federal agencies,” a senior official said. India’s consul general in San Fransisco also is in touch with students, the official said.

I am concerned too. I have a link to an online petition. I want you to understand clearly. This is not a petition that says there should be no investigation or that further inquiries should not be made. The petition asks for fairness. How many of you can disagree with that?

America is a very strange place for foreign students, not quite like the television view. Justice should not be denied but some kindness and a full consideration of their rights is not too much to ask for.

If you want to sign an online petition to ask the State Department to treat these students fairly, you can go here.

To my readers outside the United States, you do not need to be an American citizen to sign this petition!

So, come in and help.

James Pilant

P.S. I’m getting some indications that the investigation is focusing on a relatively small number of students. There is no direct announcement of this, but I am an attorney. The “feel” of the case is wrong. If they considered all of the students guilty, they could have moved all of them to a detention camp, since that number of students would have suggested an international conspiracy. In the United States, you file against everybody possible and then you narrow it down. I “think” (remember this is just my feel for what is going on) that the authorities are trying to sort through the cases and the fact that there are so many agencies involved is slowing the process.

Hundreds of Indian Students Duped by Fake University Face Deportation (via Change.org)

On By southwerkIn ethics

Here is the situation from the Yahoo News article, Feds probe Calif. ‘sham university’ for visa fraud.

The government of India is urging the United States to show leniency toward Indian students who were enrolled at a “sham university” in California that U.S. authorities say was a front for illegal immigration.

The U.S. attorney’s office alleges the owner of Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton used the unaccredited school to charge foreigners millions of dollars in tuition fees and help them obtain student visas to stay in the U.S.

Officials at Tri-Valley did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

There were 1,555 students enrolled at Tri-Valley last fall and about 95 percent of them were from India, according to a complaint filed Jan. 19 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Many of those students, who took Tri-Valley courses online, could be deported if they are found to be in violation of their immigration status.

Okay, these guys were probably duped into enrolling into a money making scheme posing as a college. It’s pretty sad. Now, assume just for a moment that these students were aware in some way that this was a sham. I don’t believe that but let’s assume it for the sake of my next question.

Is this fair? Read on –

Indian officials say the students are being “treated like criminals” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents even though they were issued valid U.S. visas by American consular officials in India.

“I don’t think any of them had any idea this was a sham university,” said Susmita Gongulee Thomas, consul general of India in San Francisco. “I don’t think any of them had the motivation to defraud any rules of the U.S. government … These students came here genuinely to improve their prospects and they should not be criminalized or victimized.”

Students told Indian consulate officials that they were searched, treated rudely and handcuffed before being taken into immigration offices for questioning, Thomas said.

Many have been forced to wear ankle bracelets to track their movements with radio frequency signals, and they must report to immigration officials regularly while they go through deportation proceedings, Gongulee Thomas said.

I’ve had people put in ankle bracelets. Those things are pretty demeaning and easy to spot. I recommended those individuals be put in ankle bracelets because they were flight risks.

These citizens of India came here looking for an education or to work at a job. Doing either one requires having a verifiable identity.

This is from Change.org –

Currently, the students from Tri-Valley have their SEVIS information blocked by DHS without which they cannot seek transfers or admissions to other universities and the students are under electronic surveillance. India has already demanded that the students be treated fairly and expressed concern. The Ministry of External Affairs stated that “we have conveyed to the US authorities that the students, most of who are victims themselves, must be treated fairly and reasonably, and that the use of monitors on a group of students, who were detained and later released with monitors in accordance with US laws, is unwarranted and should be removed.”

Help these students stay in the United States to complete their education. In my experience there are a great number of schools in this country designed to extract the maximum amount of money for the least educational value. Considering the number of these schools, I think it would be wise to give these students the benefit of the doubt.

There is an online petition here. I doubt that the petition will get them released, the fear of foreigners in the United States being at all time high. But maybe they will reconsider things like the ankle bracelets and other objectionable treatment.

If you’ve liked the things I’ve written I would appreciate the assistance. Okay?

James Pilant