California based Tri-Valley University president Susan Xiao Ping Su, finally got arrested early on Monday morning. She has been indicted by the federal grand jury on 33-criminal counts, charging her with wire fraud, mail fraud, visa fraud and conspiracy to commit visa fraud, use of a false document, making false statements to a government agency, alien harboring, customs enforcement's homeland security investigations.
Hundreds of Indian students face an uncertain future as a California 'university' faces immigration fraud charges.
About 60 students of the Pleasanton, California-based Tri-Valley University--shut down by federal authorities for alleged visa fraud--met India's consul general in San Francisco February 1, requesting for help in finding a way out from the nightmare they say has fallen on them.
The United States immigration authorities on Wednesday asked the 1,555 students of the California-based Tri Valley University, which has been shut down on charges of visa fraud affecting hundreds of Indians, to contact them directly to find out the options they have to pursue their studies in this country.
The founder of the California-based Tri-Valley University, who destroyed the academic careers of several hundred Indian students in the United States, has been sentenced to more than 16 years in prison for running a sham university that served as a front for an immigration scam.
Ashok Kolla, chair, student committee, TANA, said last week that seven of the 18 students radio tagged had been relieved of their ankle irons. Peddibhotla said radio tags being removed is the first step in a long battle.
A much-awaited advisory from the Department the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement may alleviate the fears of legitimate students of Tri-Valley University, which was closed following charges of fraud. The advisory, posted on Tuesday, provides students with a few options, including the one to return home without being barred re-entry to the US in future.
A tremendous effort made by the Indian government to stop the arrest and harassment of the Indian students who are victims of the Tri-Valley University seems in vain, as students are still been taken to the detention center by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
For the first time in the past 11 months the United States District Court of Northern California favoured former students of the Tri-Valley University.
The trial of Susan Xiao Ping Su, the president and owner of the fraud-ridden Tri-Valley University, started on Tuesday.
The US officials informed that out of more than 1000 students, who were being considered for transfer to other universities, 435 transfers were approved, 145 were denied and about an equal number were issued Notices of Intention to Deny (NOIDs), the Indian embassy said in a statement.
Horror stories like Tri Valley University and University of Northern Virginia, where students were enrolled in unaccredited institutions which violated visa norms, are still fresh in the minds of many. Don't fall prey to these traps, warns Rahul Choudaha, Director of Development & Innovation at WES, New York.
The letter, written by the Indian ambassador to the United States Nirupama Rao to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in which she expressed her concern about the Indian students affected by the "sham" Tri-Valley University is being reviewed and would be replied soon, an official spokesperson has said.
"It is not going to happen and closure will happen in 2 or 3 months. I feel, definitely it would be much longer than that may be 6 or 7 months or 8 months", Susmita Gongulee Thomas, the Consul General of the Indian Consulate in San Francisco said.
A federal jury on Monday convicted Susan Xiao-Ping Su, the founder of California-based Tri Valley University.
The jury trial of Susan Xiao Ping Su, the president and owner of the now shutdown Tri-Valley University in California, began on March 3.
Some Indian students, many of the from Andhra Pradesh, have fallen victims of the Guantanamo Bay mindset of the United States authorities which permits them to use demeaning and dehumanising methods against suspects under investigation or detention in order to prevent them from escaping and to locate them by using the Global Positioning System if they manage to escape.
Four students of Indian origin have been served probation sentence and community service.
Ritu Jha speaks to some Indian students who have been at the receiving end of the Tri-Valley University scam in the United States.
Despite the Tri Valley University case and hate crimes, the Indian-American community gained ground in California, says Ritu Jha.
Earlier on January 19, American federal agents had raided the Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton, California, and shut it down for misusing visa permits, laundering money and for other crimes.
Leaving the United States is the only solution left, felt Sheela Murthy of the Baltimore, Maryland-based Murthy Law Firm, for students of Tri-Valley University, who have been running from one university to another and from one attorney to another since federal authorities raided and shut down the college on January 19.
These students were radio tagged in California after Tri Valley University was shut down in January on charges of massive visa fraud.
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.
Indian origin lawyers Kalpana Peddibhotla, Neha Sampat, Daljit Dhami, Vineeta Gajwani and Anoop Prasad were awarded at the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California's 19th annual gala held on March 30 in San Francisco, US.
With eight officials of a New Jersey based educational institution arrested on charges of foreign student visa fraud, federal authorities have given the students, mostly from India, multiple options to continue their studies or return with prejudice.
Jerry Wang, 34, the CEO of Sunnyvale California-based Herguan University and the University of East-West Medicine has been charged in a San Jose District Court with a 15 count indictment on visa fraud including that he forged federal documents to allow foreign students to enter and stay in the US.
A senior official in the Barack Obama administration has said that all contentious issues, including concern that Indian students are being duped by sham universities and colleges that have questionable credentials, would be on the table during the major United States-India Education Summit in October.
Obama administration says onus on students and their families to make sure they are not hoodwinked by US sham universities
Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao has written to United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her to view the cases of over 1,000 Indian students affected by the "sham" Tri-Valley University with "understanding" and in a "fair" manner.
Much before the Tri-Valley University scam that affected many Indians was exposed in the United States, the American Consulate in Mumbai had expressed concern over the steep jump in lesser qualified student visa applications, a leaked US diplomatic cable has said.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Sunday strongly condemned the reported forcible wearing of radio collars around the ankles of Indian students in the Tri-Valley University in United States and demanded severe action against those responsible for the 'inhuman act'. "We demand the US government initiate severe action against officials responsible for this inhuman act. Indian students are not criminals. The radio collars should immediately be removed," he told reporters.
Hundreds of Indian students, duped by a California-based 'sham' university, are frantically knocking at the doors of colleges, begging for admission in their desperate attempt to save their academic careers and avoid deportation. Nearly 1,500 Indian students were studying at the California-based Tri Valley University, which was shut down by federal authorities last week after investigations revealed that this institution had indulged in massive wire fruad.
Be ready for self-discovery and conscious adaptation to fit yourself in a new culture.
The United States has assured India that innocent students of the fake Tri Valley University would get an opportunity to 're-adjust' their status or transfer to other US universities, the government said on Wednesday and expressed confidence that all such students would be relocated. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told Parliament that India had asked the US government that students, who were themselves victims of fraud, should be given adequate time and opportunity.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday assured External Affairs Minister S M Krishna that the issue of Indian students enrolled in the Tri Valley University would receive her promptest attention and that 'justice' would be done in the matter. Clinton gave the assurance in the matter during a 40-minute telephonic conversation with the visiting Indian minister. Clinton has asked Indian Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar to meet her on Monday and provide all the details.
United States immigration authorities have removed radio tags from the ankles of two Indian students from California-based Tri Valley University, which has been shut down on charges of massive visa fraud.
The United States expressed concern over any activity involving visa fraud, as several Indian students of a California-based University shut down by authorities on charges of illegal immigration were interrogated.
Hundreds of Indian students, mostly from Andhra Pradesh, face the prospect of deportation from the United States after authorities raided and shut down a university in the Silicon Valley on charges of a massive immigration fraud.
At least one Indian student has been arrested in a countrywide operation in which hundreds of Indians may be victims or participants in an elaborate fraud scheme involving a California university.
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