US Authorities GPS Tagging Duped Indian Students

tanveer1979 writes "Indian students duped by Tri-Valley University in California have been fitted with GPS devices by US immigration authorities. Scores of Indian students were caught in a scam where the university violated immigration norms and illegally got the students F1 visa and immigration status. To keep a track on the movements of the students, the authorities have fitted them with GPS devices. This is spiraling into a major diplomatic row between India and the USA, with the former calling the practice inhuman and unwanted."

Comments

Re:No, they shouldn't be given GPS devices

[anyGould]

I think the government does owe them something - the school was listed as an approved site by the government, after all:

SEVIS is a web-based technology maintained by the US to track and monitor schools and programs, students, exchange visitors and their dependents, while they are legally enrolled in the US education system. Indeed, Tri-Valley University is among the SEVIS Approved Schools listed on the US ICE website. Authorities have since shut down the university.

So they came here, partly because the Government lists them as an approved school. Not their fault that the school is no longer approved.

But sending them home does seem preferable to the electronic-ball-and-chain. But then, American government is fond of the Guilty Until We Decide You're Guilty method...

Re:Not just next voting bloc, it's labour costs to

[FatAlb3rt]

You're right, both parties are guilty of it. The difference is one party tends to have some members that want to do something about it, and the entire party is demonized as being inhumane.

Re:No, they shouldn't be given GPS devices

[BBTaeKwonDo]

I second the doubting of the "I didn't know the university was fake" argument:

Investigations by US authorities found that while students were admitted to residential and on-line courses of the university and on paper lived in California, in reality they worked illegally in various parts of the country as far as Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

Consider also a related article which gives the university's side of the story

"Starting in April, one of student assistants Anji Reddy, who worked in TVU administrative office, teamed with another student Ram Krista Karra, who also has a consultant company, conducting a large cheating scheme by asking students to make tuition payment into Ram Krista Karra's personal account in exchange for student I-20 and CPT approval. TVU has fired these two individuals," the email said.

So we've got a bunch of people who are supposed to be attending university in California but who are actually working in other states (the visa only allows on-campus employment of less than 20 hours per week) and are paying into someone's personal account. Either these students are the most naive, trusting bunch of people on Earth, or some (or more likely, all) of them were in on the scam.

Re:No, they shouldn't be given GPS devices

[commandermonkey]

And that crime group is probably leaving decapitated bodies in the desert?

Where do you live that police won't investigate crime because of semi-automatic weapons? And why do you think that 'illegals' are the only criminals with them? Every US city has an illegal narcotics run by our very own citizens and different members of those groups are packing much worse than semi-automatic weapons. Applying your logic about why the 'Guatemalan burglars' are so successful would imply that crime in the US could be easily cut down by making all semi-automatic weapons illegal, rounding up those guns and preventing the sale further in the US. Personally I am on-board with your idea(and I bet the Mexican government would be as well since most of the guns that are fueling their drug war come from the US.)

Its not immigrants it's about class.

Why do you think crime groups are started in the first place? Do you believe that someone wakes up one morning and says 'I have a good paying job and will be able to provide for my family, but you know, I really want to stick it to whity today so I think I will boost his 31" TV that he is so proud of!' Yes, that must be it.

More than anything else, the US tries to export it's ideal. The two chickens in every pot, a good paying job for all who want one, freedom from civil unrest, and the promise of a better tomorrow for anyone willing to work for it. And you know what? People, some living under oppression; others close to starvation; still more bound by a caste system they will never escape; many who look around at their current community and see no work; all these people and more fall for it! Lured by the ideals enshrined on the Statue of Liberty they see America as a shining city on the hill, a refuge for those who persecuted and want a better life for their families. They leave their loved ones and risk death or enslavement all for the chance to work below minimum wage, at some shit job you couldn't pay a US citizen to do and they have no recourse to report labor violations or crimes committed against them for fear of being sent back to the miserable life they came from.

I have no doubt that some who come here in search of a better life, get a glimpse of what the US really is and out of despair and desperation turn to crime. The doubt doesn't exist because many of our natural born citizens are forced to a path of crime for the same reasons.

You want to curb immigration? Stop talking about the American Dream; Stop writing about it; Stop making movies and TV shows about it; and please stop teaching our children about it. Instead show the images of the poor standard of living that most Americans live under. Write about the crappy health care that most receive(those that can afford to anyway) and how many of those issues are caused by not being able to afford proper nutrition. Rewrite sitcoms to show families that unemployed/underemployed because our primary/secondary education system does a poor job at training people to work in a modernizing world. Teach our children that if you work a 40+ hour a week job(if you can find it) in most jobs you will never be able to comfortably retire without assistance. Make movies where the hero is a middle class salaried employee who can't get ahead and, rather than examine the system that is holding him down, inexplicably blames the lowest class who is suffering a worse fate than he is.

In addition to scaring people away from immigrating to the US you have the added bonus of bringing attention to real problems for this country and not the pretend ones of illegals decapitating bodies in the desert or terrorist anchor babies.

Re:No, they shouldn't be given GPS devices

[hey!]

Actually, giving them a plane ticket home would be better than treating them all like convicted child molesters. If they don't have mens rea (a guilty mind/criminal intent), they aren't criminals. They're people with incorrect immigration papers. So you say, "Gee, it's too bad your papers are screwed up, but you have to go home until you can get them straightened out. We'll give you a reasonable period to wrap up your affairs first of course. The people of the United States wish you well in all your future endeavors."

Treating people with respect costs less than treating them disrespectfully. And we want to treat these people with respect, because it is in our national interest to do so. India is the world's largest democracy. They aren't exactly an ally, but if you look at that part of the world, a strong, stable and generally cooperative country looks a lot better than a basket case ally that can transform overnight into an implacable enemy.

This is not about what we owe *them*. It's about what we owe ourselves.

The "solution" we ended up is the worst of all possible worlds. We're being provocatively harsh, *and they're still here*. We'd be better off just turning a blind eye to these people. Even if some of them ended up staying here indefinitely, that's not the end of the world, and it is certainly not worth inflaming the sensibilities of an important strategic and economic partner. People here in the US are pissed at Indians for doing exactly what we asked them to do. They sold us services under our free trade policies. They came here at our invitation to fill up H1B positions. And we're angry at *them* for the laws and policies we have enacted?

If it were up to me, I'd give these people the benefit of the doubt. I'd bend over backward to give them a chance to adjust their status, apply under a different visa program, or go home voluntarily. Why? Primarily because it's the decent, stand-up thing to do. But if that's not enough, it's the right thing to do for our national interests.