Several Indians face deportation as ‘Pay to Stay’ visa racket busted in US
Washington, Jan 31: Several foreigners, including from India, face deportation from the US after authorities busted a "pay to stay" visa racket and arrested eight persons on charges of fraudulently facilitating at least 600 immigrants to illegally remain in the country.
In late-night and pre-dawn raids, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested eight foreigners all of whom are either Indian nationals or Indian Americans for aiding foreign nationals to remain in the United States illegally by actively recruiting them to enrol into a fake university in Farmington Hills in Metro Detroit.
Without the knowledge of the conspirators, the university was operated by special agents of the Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) as part of an undercover operation, from a small building in Detroit area. Information made available on the website of this university in particular those related to admissions leaves a lot of questions.
Simultaneously, the ICE also has started detaining foreign students of this fake university and started the process of their deportation.
"Vast majority" of those arrested and detained are Indian nationals, an ICE official told PTI.
"Special agents from ICE's Homeland Security Investigations arrested eight on criminal charges as part of an investigation into potential abuses of the US student visa system," the official said.
In their late 20s or early 30s, those arrested by the ICE include Barath Kakireddy, Suresh Kandala, Phanideep Karnati, Prem Rampeesa, Santosh Sama, Avinash Thakkallapally, Aswanth Nune, and Naveen Prathipati. Six of them were arrested in Detroit area while the other two in Virginia and Florida.
According to an indictment unsealed in a local court Wednesday, these eight individuals helped at least 600 foreign nationals stay in the US illegally.
"As part of this investigation, numerous foreign nationals face administrative immigration violations. Those individuals will be placed in removal proceedings, and ICE will seek to maintain them in its custody pending the outcome of those proceedings," the ICE official told PTI.
The Indian Embassy here and its consulates are in touch with student organisations and offered help. It is also in touch with US authorities.
According to the indictment, from February 2017 to January 2019, a group of foreign citizens, conspired with each other and others to fraudulently facilitate hundreds of foreign nationals in illegally remaining and working in the US by actively recruiting them to enrol into the university.
The university was part of a federal law enforcement undercover operation designed to identify recruiters and entities engaged in immigration. The university had no staff, no teachers, and conducted no real classes.
As part of the scheme, the indictment said, the defendants and recruiters assisted foreign citizen "students" in fraudulently obtaining immigration documents from the school and facilitated the creation of false student records, including transcripts, for the purpose of deceiving immigration authorities.
The illegal documents obtained as a result of the conspirators' actions were based on false claims, false statements, and fraud since the purported foreign students had no intention of attending school, nor attended a single class, and were not bona fide students, federal prosecutors said.
Noting that all participants in the scheme knew that the school had no instructors or actual classes, the ICE said the defendants intended to help shield and hide their customers "students" from US immigration authorities for money and collectively profited in excess of a quarter of a million dollars as a result of their scheme.
"We are all aware that international students can be a valuable asset to our country, but as this case shows, the well-intended international student visa programme can also be exploited and abused," stated US Attorney Matthew Schneider.
"Homeland Security Investigations special agents uncovered a nationwide network that grossly exploited US immigration laws," said Special Agent Charge Francis.
"Each of the foreign citizen who enrolled and made tuition payments to the university knew that they would not attend accrual classes, earn credits or make progress towards an actual degree in a particular field of study a pay to stay scheme," the indictment said.
"Rather their intent was to fraudulently maintain their student visa status and to obtain work authorisation under the CPT (Curricular Practical Training) programme," it said.
This is the second such case when Department of Homeland Security has used a fake university to unearth a fake student visa racket. In 2016, the ICE had arrested some 21 people for similar charges for a fake University of Northern New Jersey.
Meanwhile, social media chatter on various platform in particular those from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana -- indicated that the ICE raids were carried out in various cities across the US -- Columbus Ohio; Houston in Texas, Atlanta in Georgia, St Louis in Missouri and New York and New Jersey.
In a statement posted on its website Reddy & Neumann group of immigration attorney said that it has received multiple reports that the ICE raided multiple worksites containing CPT students authorised by the University of Farmington, located in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
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Hormuz Blockade: Why Your World Stalls
Three weeks ago, the third Gulf War started. And since that day, ordinary life for millions of people around the world — including us — has quietly started getting more expensive and more difficult. Let us understand why.
Everything begins with a tiny 54-kilometre-wide waterway called the Strait of Hormuz, near Iran. Think of it like a narrow gate between two rooms. Almost all the oil, gas, and goods from the Gulf countries pass through this one gate to reach the rest of the world. Now that gate is blocked. And the world is beginning to choke.
The Fuel Problem
On 16th March, the price of crude oil crossed $106 per barrel — the highest since Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022. Even Donald Trump released America's emergency oil reserves — the largest ever release — but traders are still not convinced the strait will reopen soon. About 10 to 15 percent of the world's oil supply is stuck.
Asian countries like India, China, Japan and Thailand are already cutting oil refinery production by 5 to 15 percent because the Gulf crude they are designed to process is simply not coming. The little oil that does arrive is the wrong type for their machines. Less production means less petrol, less diesel, less jet fuel — and higher prices at the pump for everyone.
Here is a scary number — if the blockade continues, countries in Africa may run out of jet fuel in just 23 days, Oceania in 36 days, and most of Asia in about 12 days. Some poorer nations have already started closing schools and cutting working days just to save fuel.
The Factory Problem
The Gulf is not just about oil. It supplies 24 percent of the world's aluminium — used in everything from milk packets to electric wires. The price of aluminium has jumped by ₹25,000 per tonne in just weeks. The Gulf also supplies nearly half the world's urea (fertiliser), a large portion of the plastics used in packaging, and critical chemicals used in making medicines — including the raw materials for aspirin and antibiotics.
India, being the world's largest maker of generic medicines, is directly affected. If these chemical raw materials stop arriving, medicine production slows down. Plastic companies in Asia have already declared "force majeure" — a legal term meaning "sorry, we simply cannot fulfil our contracts because the situation is beyond our control."
And then there is helium. Most people think helium is just for balloons. But it is actually used to cool the powerful magnets inside machines that make semiconductor chips — the tiny chips inside every phone, laptop, and car. Qatar used to supply one-third of the world's helium. That supply has now stopped. There is no easy backup.
The Food Problem
This is perhaps the most serious part. One-third of the world's fertiliser trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Countries like Kenya, Pakistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Tanzania get more than one-fourth of their fertiliser from the Gulf. Sudan gets more than half.
The price of urea has already jumped 35 percent since the war began. Sulphur, another crop nutrient, has risen 40 percent. The head of Yara, one of the world's biggest fertiliser companies, has warned this could be "catastrophic" for global food supply. In America, the agriculture minister has called it a "national security issue."
For farmers, the choice is brutal — pay double for fertiliser, use less and grow less, or wait and miss the planting season entirely. If fertiliser arrives late, it cannot help the 2026 harvest. Food that is not grown this season cannot be grown back next month.
What This Means For Us
We may not live near the Gulf. We may never have heard of the Strait of Hormuz before. But we will feel this — in rising petrol prices, costlier groceries, expensive medicines, and delayed goods. Even if the strait reopens tomorrow, experts say things will not return to normal quickly. Damaged refineries, broken factories, and cautious shipping companies will take months to restart.
This crisis is also a loud warning for every country — including India — to seriously rethink how deeply we depend on one single region for so many essential goods. True security means building alternative suppliers, stronger reserves, and smarter trade routes before the next crisis hits.
One small passage. One war. And slowly, the whole world is beginning to feel the heat.
(Girish Linganna is an award-winning science communicator and a Defence, Aerospace & Geopolitical Analyst. He is the Managing Director of ADD Engineering Components India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany.)
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or position of the publication, its editors, or its management. The publication is not responsible for the accuracy of any information, statements, or opinions presented in this piece.
