Tri Valley: Radio tags removed from three more Indian students

Washington:  The US Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) have removed radio tags from three more Indian students of the now shut-down Tri Valley University (TVU) in California and also returned their passports.

Susmita Gongulee Thomas, the Consul General, Indian Consulate San Francisco, said ICE has returned the passports of these three students along with the two others, from whom radio tags were removed last week.

In all radio tags so far has been removed from five of the 18 Indian students. These students were taken to ICE by two immigration attorneys, Kalpana Peddibhotla and Manpreet Gahra.

Encouraged by the positive development, Thomas said 10 more students would be taken to ICE next week by these two immigration attorneys and they are very optimistic of the same positive outcome.

"Five of the 18 students are now free of the radio tags. Students were feeling very badly about. It was humiliating to go around with these tags," Thomas told PTI.

The Consul General said, three of the students who have radio tags have gone to their own lawyers, so she has no information about them.

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The two immigration attorneys -- Kalpana Peddibhotla and Manpreet Gahra are from the South Asian Bar Association, who in association with the Consulate had held free legal aid camp for the Tri Valley Students.

"Our primary concern and priority was to get these radio tags removed," she said.

Thomas said community organisations in the Bay area, especially the Telugu Association of North America, have been supporting these students in distress. She urged other community organisations to come forward with their resources to help these students.

The Consul General said the TVU students are from various parts of the country, not only from Andhra Pradesh alone.

"There are students from Kerala; some are from (West) Bengal. Some are from Madhya Pradesh. Some are Gujaratis," she said.

Source:-http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/tri-valley-radio-tags-removed-from-three-more-indian-students-85957

U.S. asks duped sham varsity students to look for options - General news

Washington: U.S. immigration authorities have asked duped students of a sham university in California, most of them from India, to contact them directly to find out what options they have to pursue their studies in America.

Over 1,500 students of California-based Tri Valley University (TVU), some 90 percent of them from India, mostly Andhra Pradesh, face the prospect of deportation following the closure of the school on charges of visa fraud unless they can get admission in another institution.

"Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has taken further steps to ensure SEVP (Student and Exchange Visitor Programme)-certified schools and former Tri-Valley students have the information that they need to make informed decisions in light of the ongoing investigation," spokeswoman, Lori K. Haley said Wednesday.

ICE has posted an advisory on the SEVP link on ICE's website -- http://www.ice.gov/sevis/tri-valley-110118.htm -- to direct students how to contact an SEVP representative to obtain information about their options.

"When you call, SEVP will provide you with your options including the option to depart from the United States without an otherwise possibly applicable bar to re-admission in the future," says the advisory issued to the TVU students.

Lori said due to the ongoing investigation, ICE is not discussing the details related to the Tri Valley case. SEVP terminated the records of all F-1 students enrolled at TVU as of Jan 18, after ICE shut down TVU following an investigation.

According to a federal complaint filed in a California court in January, the university helped foreign nationals illegally acquire immigration status.

The complaint alleged that while students were admitted to various residential and on-line courses of the university and on paper lived in California, in reality they "illegally" worked in places as far away as Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas.

For a student to maintain an active immigration status, they must show proof that they are making reasonable progress toward completing coursework and physically attend classes.

Source: U.S. asks duped sham varsity students to look for options - General news