(No caption)
Building that housed the "University of Farmington." (Photo: Google Images)
Newly unsealed federal grand jury indictments show Homeland Security agents set up a fake university in Farmington Hills to lure hundreds of immigrants in the U.S. illegally who were trying to stay under a student visa program.
The Detroit News and Free Press report that 8 student recruiters have been charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and harboring aliens for profit. Together, they reportedly received $250,000 in cash and kickbacks to find students to attend the school.
The Freep reports students enrolled in the university may have been targeted as well.
The News reports:
... the university was being used by foreign citizens as a 'pay to stay' scheme which allowed these individuals to stay in the United States as a result of of foreign citizens falsely asserting that they were enrolled as full-time students in an approved educational program and that they were making normal progress toward completion of the course of study," the indictment reads.
Rahul Reddy, an immigration attorney in Houston, said in a live stream that immigrant students who may have been enrolled at the university were detained in Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, and St. Louis. Reddy said that concerned students have contacted him today.
The so-called University of Farmington operated out of an office in a building on Northwestern Highway near 13 Mile. There were no classes. The school did have a website and Facebook page.
The fake school was set up in 2015, under the Obama administration.
The News reports this isn't the first time Homeland Security has gone to such extremes in an immigration sting:
In 2016, Homeland Security agents used the fake University of Northern New Jersey to charge 21 people with student and work visa fraud.
The eight recruiters charged are:
• Bharath Kakireddy, 29, of Lake Mary, Florida.
• Aswanth Nune, 26, of Atlanta.
• Suresh Reddy Kandala, 31, of Culpeper, Virginia.
• Phanideep Karnati, 35, of Louisville, Kentucky.
• Prem Kumar Rampeesa, 26, of Charlotte, North Carolina.
• Santosh Reddy Sama, 28, of Fremont, California.
• Avinash Thakkallapally, 28, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
• Naveen Prathipati, 29, of Dallas.
