‘Students were handcuffed like criminals & taken away’

HYDERABAD:  Life in the United States is no mean fete, as Chaitanya (name changed) puts it. As a Hyderabadi student currently staying in Pennsylvania, Chaitanya is well-versed with the struggles of immigrant students in America. He is of the strong opinion that not all those enrolled in the now infamous ‘University of Farmington’ had malafide intentions.

“Several students were left high and dry when the STEM program at the Northwestern Polytechnic University at California lost accreditation. Many were forced to enrol in another university that also offered Curricular Practical Training ( CPT). With its low tuition fees, Farmington would have appeared an attractive option,” he says.

The arrest of eight Indian students-turned-recruiters, six of them from the two Telugu states, under the ‘pay for stay scheme’ at the phony University of Farmington University, had spread panic across the States. The prosecutors allege that, as everyone involved with the school knew that the university was not staffed with instructors and had no actual classes, their enrolment was with the sole intention to commit fraud. But Express’ interaction with a few students indicated otherwise. Quite a few seemed to have genuinely believed that they were enrolling in a legitimate program.

According to Chaitanya, some students with a proper Masters’ degree too, while waiting for their specialty work visa, enrol in another school as a ‘stopgap measure’. “But the way the government set up the unsuspecting students to join the university is questionable,” he added. His apartment had been raided at 4 am on January 30 by Homeland Security and Immigration (HSI) officials who were looking for his roommate, a student at the University of Farmington.  

While over 130 students have been detained, in addition to the eight who are facing criminal charges, the other 500 students enrolled with the university are in a grip of fear. Several of them have already fled the country. Another Telugu student from Hyderabad returned home on Friday, after his girlfriend was picked up by the police during the raid at Maryland. 

Recounting the ordeal, the student said, “It was a traumatic experience. We woke up to 6 cops barging into our house and raiding it and we were just made to stand like criminals.” The student, who was pursuing MS from the Farmington University while working, said that all students who were detained were handcuffed like criminals and taken away. Meanwhile, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan demanded that the Central and the State governments should provide the students with necessary legal help to enable them to fight their case.

KTR seeks help from US Consul General 
A day after eight students, including six from the Telugu states were arrested in connection with immigration fraud, TRS working president KT Rama Rao sought help from US Consul General Katherine Hadda on Friday. In a tweet, KTR urged the diplomat to offer assistance to the students