Washington, January 28: Susan Xiao-Ping Su, founder of the “sham” Tri-Valley University in California which has mostly students from Andhra Pradesh on its rolls, has been charged with running an elaborate immigration fraud, netting millions of dollars from foreign nationals hoping to migrate to the US.
The fate of the university’s 1,555 students, 95 per cent of whom are from India and mostly Andhra Pradesh, remains unclear amid reports that some of them being questioned after raids by the US Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) last week.
A hearing in the case has been set for April, according to reports from California. India has, meanwhile, sought a report from its missions in the US on the students affected after the University was shut down by authorities. “We have asked for a report from our Embassy and from our Consulate General and when a report is issued, we will be taking it up with the government of the US,” External Affairs minister S M Krishna told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday.
He said that the mission has been instructed to look into the welfare of the students. However, he found it “strange” that the affected students had not approached the Indian Consulate so far. There has been no word yet from the US Immigration authorities on the fate of the students who, it is feared, could be deported.
The US State Department has voiced concern over the fraud, with spokesman Philip J Crowley commenting on Wednesday: “Any activity involving visa fraud would obviously be of great concern to us. The investigation of that is done by law enforcement, obviously with our cooperation, since we are the ones who issue visas.”
“Since 9/11, one of the areas that we as a government have strengthened is tracking, so that if you come here on a student visa, you have to check in and you have to go to school. That is a requirement of that programme,” he said.
The university apparently operated out of a small, two-storey building in Pleasanton. “Since its inception, Tri-Valley University has been a sham university, which Su, and others have used to facilitate foreign nationals in illegally acquiring student immigration status that authorizes them to remain in the United States,” a complaint filed by the US Attorney’s Office said.
Accusing her of making false statements and misrepresentations in petitions to the Department of Homeland Security to obtain student visas, the complaint said: “Su and Tri-Valley University have made millions of dollars in tuition fees for issuing these visa related documents which enable foreign nationals (to) obtain illegal student immigrant status.”
Su used the ill-gotten money to buy five properties, including the two Pleasanton homes that were raided by ICE, media report said. Citing federal documents, Danville Express, a Californiabased online newspaper, reported that Su had been charged with money laundering, mail fraud and wire fraud.
–Agencies