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WASHINGTON: Citing the United States growing partnership with India and the long history between the countries in the education sector, four US lawmakers on Wednesday urged the Trump administration’s homeland security department and immigration officialdom to provide humane treatment and due process to 130 Indian students across the country who have been detained for using a decoy university to obtain work authorisation.

The lawmakers’ intervention came even as the Indian Embassy succeeded in establishing consular access to all students amid reports that some of them are suffering on account of their dietary restrictions and other conditions while in detention. The victims of the DHS’ sting operation, including at least seven female students, are scattered in 36 detention centers across the country, all of which have now been accessed by Indian consular officials.

While several students detained in California have been freed on bail and are being monitored by US authorities with tracking devices, lawyers deployed by community organizers said students in Georgia, Florida , and Oklahoma among other states, are being detained in county jail and immigration detention centers. “Many of them are having a tough time securing bail which can happen only when a court hearing is scheduled. That could take up to a month,” said Phani Bobba, a lawyer in Atlanta who has been contacted by many affected families.

The four lawmakers, including Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, who have stood up for the Indian students, were clearly skeptical of the homeland security operation that entrapped the students by creating a fake university to attract them in a latter they wrote to homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen .

Noting that investigation into the alleged misuse began in 2015 and homeland security investigators were operating the decoy university since 2017, the lawmakers voiced community concerns regarding treatment of students and urged authorities to “ensure the detained students are afforded all rights provided to them under the law, including access to an attorney and release on bond, if they are eligible.”

"In the spirit of continuing cooperation on educational exchange programs, which benefit both countries economically and culturally, we ask that you ensure the students involved in this case are treated fairly, humanely, and in accordance with due process," the Congressmen said, while noting that India is an important strategic partner and friend to the US, and as of 2017, 186,000 Indian students comprised 17.3 per cent of all international students in the country, and as such, “these students are a vital pillar of the people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, and they come to the US on grounds of merit.”

The letter was also signed by representatives Thomas Souzzi, Brenda Lawrence, and Rob Woodall.

Following push back from homeland security officials that the detained Indian students were fully aware that they were enrolling in a fake university as part of an elaborate scam to obtain work authorization, Indian officials, after feedback from the detained students, are now maintaining that most of them were gullible and were entrapped in a system that derails their educational journey in the US short of work experience.

The students come to the US legally on valid student visas to accredited American schools (they wouldn’t be able to come with valid student visas if they cannot establish they are attending a legit school), but once here they try and extend their education going into practical training and work experience. It is in this final leg of the education journey that many of them were purportedly entrapped in a decoy university set up by homeland security agents, according to lawyers and officials who have spoken to students and their families.

“The students assumed that it was something like an Indian open university,” lawyer Phani Bobbi said, when asked about the homeland security department’s assertion that students were aware than the decoy university had only an online presence with no campus and no classes. The students may also have been misled by the name of the fake set-up “University of Farmington” bearing a close resemblance to the entirely legit University of Maine in Farmington.

The alleged scam and entrapment has now put a dampener on tens of thousands of Indian students who come each year to the US to lesser-known schools with more modest fees not in the league of the Ivies. Many US universities too are heavily depended on foreign students, who pay top dollar for American education, for their revenue stream.

“Instances of fraud schemes are rare, unfortunate aberrations in the proud history of educational exchange between the United States and India,” the State Department said in a statement that trod the delicate line between presenting the US as an attractive and welcoming education destination. “The US government fully supports international education and is committed to facilitating legitimate student travel. International students are a valuable asset to our universities and our economy and enrich our communities through sharing their diverse perspectives, skills, and experiences.

However, it agreed with the homeland security department’s assertion that “all participants in this scheme knew that the University of Farmington had no instructors or classes (neither on-line nor in-person) and were aware they were committing a crime in an attempt to fraudulently remain in the United States,” adding, “ It is unfortunate that some student recruiters and individuals seek to use the international student program to foster illegal immigration status in the United States.”