U.S. Visa Fraud: India Demands Release Of Students Suhasini Haidar

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are investigating the case.

- Suhasini Haidar

Worried about the condition of 129 Indian students arrested in the United States for visa fraud, the government issued a demarche to the U.S. Embassy in Delhi on Saturday, demanding that the students be released from detention and not summarily deported.

“Our concern over the dignity and well-being of the detained students and the need for immediate consular access for Indian officials to the detainees was reiterated,” an Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement said, adding that it had urged the U.S. government to “release them from detention at the earliest and not to resort to deportation against their will.”

The MEA has set up helplines for all those arrested, currently in detention centres across states. Indian consulate officials in Texas met with detainees in San Antonio, Conroe and Alvarado, the consulate said.