Legal aid offered to detained students in US: MEA

All 130 foreign students, including 129 Indians who were detained for enrolling in a fake university, were aware that they were committing a crime to fraudulently remain in the US, the state department said on Tuesday following which New Delhi said it had already obtained consular access to 117 students so far. India also said “assistance is being extended to the Indian students in obtaining legal advice and connecting them to community support services” and that the Indian government will “remain in touch with the US authorities, both at the federal and local level, to ensure and satisfy ourselves about humane and dignified treatment of the Indian students and customsensitive dietary and living arrangement for them during the period of their detention”. The MEA said India would continue to “attach high priority to the well- being of the detained students and ... address the issue”. It said Indian diplomats had already visited 36 different detention sites in the US where the arrested Indian students are lodged.

These students in the US were arrested last week by the US department of homeland security for enrolling at the University of Farmington allegedly to remain in America. The fake university was set up by the DHS’s investigating unit in Greater Detroit area to bust the “pay- andstay” racket. “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 US,” a US state department spokesperson was quoted in a statement on Monday.

The US state department also described it an unfortunate aberration in the proud history of India- US educational exchanges.

“More than a million international students’ study at US institutions each year,” the US state department was quoted as saying.

◗ The MEA said that the govt will ‘ remain in touch with the US authorities, both at the federal and local level, to ensure humane and dignified treatment of the students’