Telugu immigrants, as expected were quite a number of those admitted in the fake ‘University of Northern New Jersey’ (UNNJ) that was set up by the US Homeland Security Department to trap people involved in student visa fraud.
A little over 1,000 students were admitted into the fake university run by the US undercover agents and majority of these trapped in the sting operation were from India and China. The agents arrested included 10 from India and 11 from China. Among the agents names released also had Telugu names like Tajesh Kodali and Karthik Nimmala indicating that they had a role in securing visas for students.
The presence of Telugu students is also obvious from the fact that the Facebook page of the fake varsity had lots of Telugu students interacting and posting messages. For example, when the fake university posted a fake message on the page regretting the death of the fake varsity’s President Steven Brunetti’s mother, several Telugu students with names like Sreekanth Reddy, Chinna Chowdary and one Kaleemuddin Mohammed shared their concern and offered condolences.
In fact, the FB page also had a wedding picture of one Shravani Vaddalapu where the fake varsity expressed its happiness for their students getting married. Some Telugu names like Sai Balla, Murali Koganti and others were found liking the pictures posted by their friends on the FB page of the fake university. The FB page has now been taken off.
“All these reflect the presence of Telugu students in quite a number,” says Narsireddy Gayam, a GRE trainer. “The craze among Telugus for US immigration was exploited by the agents. Most of the visa-seekers paid to maintain their non-immigrant status in the USA. They very well knew that the varsity was sham as it allowed them to work outside without attending classes,” Mr. Narsireddy points out. “Not even in their dreams they expected it to be a fake varsity run by officials.”
The episode is a cautionary tale for students aspiring to land in the US about being careful while choosing the varsity, as mediocre and sham universities can be tracked anytime by the US officials and their visas revoked anytime. The UNNJ students are likely to be under administrative arrest of Immigration officials now and later deported irrespective of their previous history in the USA.
“Aim to choose the best varsities. That is the only way for a better career. Sham varsities will land you in trouble anytime,” advised N.V. Ramana Rao, Professor of JNTU Hyderabad.
The UNNJ is the latest in the list exposing how the student visas are manipulated and misused. The Tri-Valley and Herguan varsities were in news for similar reasons a few years ago while last December hundreds of Indian students were deported from the USA when they went to join the Silicon Valley University and Northwestern Polytechnic in California.
