Illegal Student Recruiters From AP, Telangana To Appear Before US Criminal Court

Eight recruiters from Telangana and AP, who are being put for trial by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have been charged with facilitating at least 600 students to stay illegally in the US. The eight will be produced before the US Criminal court on February 4. The eight had made over Rs 2.1 crore, through the enrollment.

Through an Undercover Operation, The US Homeland Security, created a fake university in Farmington Hills to bring in students who were trying to illegally reside in the US.

The eight, Barath Kakireddy of Florida, Suresh Kandala of Virginia, Phanideep Karnati of Kentucky, Prem Rampeesa of North Carolina, Santosh Sama of Califor-nia, Avinash Thakkalla-pally of Pennsylvania, Aswanth Nune of Georgia and Naveen Prathipati of Texas, worked like recruiters and helped portray the foreign citizens as students and got them enrolled into the fake university.

“Representatives of Telugu Association of North America (TANA) had visited the students, along with attorneys and consulate diplomats,” said Ashok Kolla, joint treasurer of TANA.

“The ones detained will face deportation, and the respective attorneys will approach the immigration judge for their departure notice on Monday. Attorneys have rendered legal advice to the individuals detained in the many different facilities. An emergency message has been sent out asking attorneys to come forward and help the ones detained., Out of the eight students charged by ICE and facing criminal charges, one is lodged in the Tailor Municipality – Detroit, while the others are in different prisons. Five of the eight are from Telangana and three from Andhra Pradesh. They will be produced before the criminal court at 1 clock eastern time on Monday. Initially, the eight will be provided a public prosecutor. Also, the Indian Consulate general of Chicago will be meeting them on February 4.”

“For now, the attorneys have sought details of students and will be seeking voluntary departure from the Immigration Judge. Several students have already been served notices to appear before the immigration judge. Of the total detained, 80 per cent are Telugu,” said a source.

Also Read: 130 Indian Students Arrested In Visa Sting Face Civil Immigration Charges