College can be a stressful time. Signing up for classes, keeping up with coursework, and navigating the quagmire of student loans and financial aid means there’s a lot to do. But for some undocumented immigrants in Michigan, higher education reportedly came with another challenge: an undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation.

According to the Detroit Free Press, federal indictments filed on January 15 and unsealed on January 30 indicate that Homeland Security Investigation (HSI), an investigative office within ICE, was running the University of Farmington as part of an undercover operation. The new indictments appear to be against people who were apparently unaware of the undercover operation and got caught up in the sting; eight people have been arrested and indicted on immigration fraud charges of harboring aliens for profit and conspiracy to commit visa fraud.

According to the Free Press, the indictments allege that, between February 2017 and January 2019, the defendants "conspired with each other and others to fraudulently facilitate hundreds of foreign nationals in illegally remaining and working in the United States by actively recruiting them to enroll into a metro Detroit private university that, unbeknownst to the conspirators, was operated by HSI (Homeland Security Investigation) special agents as part of an undercover operation." Agents from the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, were operating undercover as “staff” at the fake school, the Free Press reported.

At least 600 “foreign citizens” were involved in the school’s operations, which an indictment alleges involved helping them “illegally remain, re-enter and work in the United States,” according to the Free Press. It is also alleged that the defendants “actively recruited [the foreign citizens] to enroll in a fraudulent school as part of a 'pay to stay' scheme.”

The American Telugu Association (ATA), a group with ties to a part of India that speaks Telugu, has taken a special interest in the case. On Facebook, the group said that in addition to the eight “educational consulting agents” arrested, attorneys had confirmed for ATA that arrest warrants have been issued for 600 students, and 100 students have already been arrested.

Steve Francis, special agent in charge of the Detroit ICE HSI office, told the Free Press that HSI “uncovered a nationwide network that grossly exploited U.S. immigration laws." He said those arrested helped “portray [foreign nationals] as students, which they most certainly were not.” An unnamed ICE official told the Free Press that the students in question did enter the U.S. legally to study, but allegedly transferred to Farmington to maintain their student visa status while working.

Data from 2015 indicated that a quarter of students work full-time while enrolled in school full-time; more recent surveys also indicate that the majority of students work some kind of job while in school. But the allegations in the indictment stem from the fake school allowing students to stay even though they weren’t meeting the requirements of their student visas. Instead, the defendants were allegedly taking money from enrolled “students” in what the indictments refer to as a “pay to stay” scheme.

"Each student knew that the University's program was not approved by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was illegal, and that discretion should be used when discussing the program with others,” an indictment alleges.

The ATA wrote on Facebook that it’s setting up a webinar with attorneys who will “guide and counsel the students to be wary of fake agents who promise illegal ways to stay in the USA through admissions in unaccredited colleges and universities” and “discuss what constitutes violation of immigration laws and the right approach to being a legal immigrant in the United States.”

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