AN EASY UNIVERSITY TO TRAP FOREIGN STUDENTS

Worthy of a film script, the immigration authorities have shown boldness by creating a fake university with the aim of arresting foreign students using a student visa to stay in the USA.

UNIVERSITY OF FARMINGTON

This American university looked good and looked very much like an official school. Located in Michigan, the school had a website, a Facebook page with several current events, a coat of arms, a motto and its own physical address. But it was all a sham, because there was no program, no class and no teacher. In reality, the University of Farmington served as a facade for the American immigration services for the sole purpose of unmasking immigration fraud networks.

Finally, this scenario proved its worth, because the operation (called “paper chase”) led to the arrest of several foreign students in late January. Among the 600 foreign students (mainly of Indian origin) who fell into the trap, eight were designated “recruiting agents” and are accused of having used forged documents to create false student records. A customs official said “these suspects have helped hundreds of foreigners stay in the United States illegally by helping them to identify themselves as students that they were not.”

FACTICE UNIVERSITY: THE METHOD IS DEBATE

Even though the indictment states that the eight “recruiting agents” were aware of the false identity of the school, no act mentions the consent of the 600 other students. Thus, the Indian government disapproves of these methods and judges that its citizens have been manipulated by the American immigration services. The lawyer of a young Palestinian woman assures, meanwhile, that the young woman never doubted the real existence of the university.

In the United States, the method used is also indignant: “They are attacking students who try to improve their lives, they are not criminals” disputes the professor of law, Amer Zahr, practicing at the University of Detroit. “Normally, we would like our law enforcement to investigate crimes that actually take place rather than spending time and resources inciting crime in fabricated operations,” said Faiza Patel, member of the Brennan Center. for Justice of New York University.

At this very moment, 150 students of Indian origin are threatened with expulsion from the American territory. The Indian Embassy in Washington opened a telephone line for the families of the arrested students.

IMMIGRATION IN THE USA, A MAJOR PROBLEM

In 2016, there were almost 43 million immigrants in the United States. Family reunification is the primary reason for immigration to work, asylum seekers and diversity visas ( green card lottery ). Alongside this legal immigration, the United States has to face the scourge of illegal immigration, mainly Latin American.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has made illegal immigration a major theme of his policy, in particular by proposing to build a wall separating the United States of America from Mexico. True obsession of the president, the desire to build an anti-immigration wall generated the longest shutdown in the history of the USA, depriving the funding of the main administrations. As the shutdown failed to raise the $ 5 billion needed to build the wall, Donald Trump declared a “national emergency” in order to bypass Congress and obtain funding, which led to several lawsuits. American states. Case to follow.