Some 250 People Arrested in ICE’s ‘U. of Farmington’ Sting Operation

Alex Milan Tracy, Sipa, via AP Images

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested 90 people in recent months as part of a sting operation involving a fake university the agency set up in suburban Michigan to snare undocumented immigrants.

That brings the total number arrested in the operation to about 250 people, the Detroit Free Press reported on Wednesday. The Chronicle first reported on the fake “University of Farmington” in January.

Nearly 80 percent of those arrested were granted voluntary departure, the Detroit office of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations told the Free Press in a statement. The remaining students have either received a final order of removal or filed for relief, the newspaper reported.

More than 600 students, all of whom were Indian except for one Palestinian student, enrolled at Farmington during the three years it was in operation. The sham university closed in January of this year. By all appearances, the University of Farmington was legit. It was registered with the State of Michigan, accredited by a national company recognized by the Department of Education, and approved by ICE as a government program for foreign students. The institution even charged students $12,000 in tuition and fees per year, the Free Press reported, meaning the federal government made money on the sting.

In addition to those arrested, eight others have been criminally charged for their roles as recruiters. ICE agents posing as university officials promised the recruiters cash or tuition credits if they would entice other students to enroll. Lawyers for ICE say that both the recruiters and the students should have known Farmington was not a real university because it lacked classes in a physical location. They allege the students were not there to obtain an education, but to maintain their visas.

Emails obtained by the Free Press in February indicated that might not have been the case. The fake university’s fake president, Ali Milani, described it as “a nationally accredited institution authorized to enroll international students” in his emails to prospective students. The fact that classes were not held on location might not have bothered students, because, as Milani wrote to them, “we offer flexible class schedules and a focus on students who do not want to interrupt their careers.”

“I was told by the students that the university reassured them that classes would be held, and everything would be fine, and that they are following the immigration laws,” Prashanthi Reddy, a lawyer in New York City, told the Free Press in February. Once students had paid the tuition fees, Reddy added, they were trapped, some not having the money to transfer and pay tuition again.

The university may not have been real, but it took real money.

Wesley Jenkins is an editorial intern at The Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter @_wesjenks, or email him at wjenkins@chronicle.com.