Why would federal employees have any immunity?
Facebook is probably worse because it’s so much bigger but Twitter is more committed to being nothing but a platform for right wing propaganda
Trump really has reshaped the government in his own image. Straight up grifting is not only allowed, but encouraged.
How many years before the US is trusted in the international community on anything again?
From the story the argument seems to be that the seat of learning in question was so obviously fraudulent, that anyone enrolling for the purposes of a visa was knowingly engaging in illegal activities. That is, the fact that it’s clearly a wind up is the very reason it is an ‘effective’ measure, and not something we can presumably expect anyone to face problems over.
It’s not the first time that I, as a non American, have been amazed that what US law enforcement engages in is not considered entrapment. I’m not a lawyer, though, so finally got round to a tiny amount of research. From wiki in the UK relevant considerations for entrapment are:
Whether the police acted in good faith;
Whether the police had good reason to suspect the accused of criminal activities;
Whether the police suspected that crime was particularly prevalent in the area in which the investigation took place (Williams v. DPP);
Whether pro-active investigatory techniques were necessary because of the secrecy and difficulty of detection of the criminal activity in question;
The defendant’s circumstances and vulnerability; and
The nature of the offence.
So there’s clearly a focus on the conduct of the police (or whoever). However, in the US it seems the tests are more about the defendant themselves. It’s about whether they can show they did not have a ‘predisposition’ to commit the crime. That, I would guess, is tricky if they did, in fact, commit the crime.
Am sure our resident lawyers might be able to say more useful stuff.
That Detroit Free Press story about the fake university is terrible and doesn’t mention important info from their earlier reporting on the subject:
The U.S. alleges the students who enrolled “knew that they would not attend any actual classes, earn credits or make academic progress toward an actual degree,” read an indictment. “Each student knew that the University’s program was not approved by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was illegal, and that discretion should be used when discussing the program with others.”
And a later followup where people push back on that narrative:
Ravi Mannam, an immigration attorney in Atlanta, said the government’s fake university “kind of hooked these students by promising them credits for their previous master’s programs.”
He said that what the University of Farmington was offering — allowing students to work while enrolled — is not unusual. And so the students may have thought it was an authorized university and work program through a type of F-1 visa known as CPT (Curricular Practical Training).
Michael Sofo, an attorney in Atlanta with Mannan and Associates said based on what he has heard about the students, it’s “not been the case” that they were knowingly participating in an illegal operation.
“There are specific universities who have advanced degree programs that primarily involved practical training from day one that allows them to enroll and the bulk of the time is spent working,” Sofo said. The courses “can be done at a remote location. It doesn’t have to be where they attend the university. … Programs like this exist and they are legal.”
It’s really awful reporting to not summarize that stuff in a story and just assume everybody already knows it or will do the necessary digging to find out for themselves.
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This mfer tweets this garbage but shows no respect for King Hippo
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It’s amazing as an American too, or at least it used to be - we should be used to it by now.
Best I could do short notice
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i haven’t looked into that university thing much, but it looks super shady. the DHS basically alleged everyone was a knowing participant in illegally extending their already existing visas. but the wiki says that several neighboring businesses testified that they often saw students attempt to come with bookbags and study materials and were turned away.
its also exclusively Indian people?
what a colossal waste of money to catch some grad students that were trying for a better life… lol
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Fast and Furious part II: Diploma Mill
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Even if it is somehow fine and not entrapment, how the actual fuck is it a wise use of money to a) set up a fake university, b) convince foreigners to come to America for said university, followed by c) deport them.
If you don’t do (a) and (b), there is no need for C!
Why not spend that money on, I dunno, food and clothing for the thousands of kids you’ve ripped from their parents’ arms? Oh that’s right, it’s because we’re the baddies after all.
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since you asked for but obama news
They listed these universities as real, when any student found out and transferred they still got deported because it’s all about goosing the stats to look like they’re doing hard work instead of being insane as all fuck.
how was it not Ivan Drago
There’s a lot of LOL in these stories. Of course the DHS and all the immigration police suck ass and that goes for the Obama administration too.
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Obama?!
I work in the auto industry and engineers from India are a significant and very important part of the work force. Many of them follow a similar trajectory. Bachelors in engineering from a good school in India, masters in the US, work on their student visa for about 18 months, get an H1B visa that is good for 3-6 years, and then try to get a green card after that. They often get second class treatment as they end up working through contract houses because the big companies don’t want to sponsor their visa or green card due to the legal headache.
I’ve seen people forced out of the country because someone typo’d the address of a business, and they had to leave for 3-4 weeks while it was worked out. The system is pretty fucked. But without the immigrants, many of these jobs go unfilled. I worked an SAE job fair collecting resumes. The number of US citizens with degrees in engineering I foudn was zero. 90% of the qualified candidates were from India.
The shakedown of this fake university seems to have no purpose other than to fuck over immigrants and send a message that they aren’t wanted. If it has a significant effect of deterring immigrants from coming here to work, get ready for your cars to get shittier.
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it was apparently a trap to catch students already here that were attempting to overstay their existing student visa from accredited Universities, because we all know what a giant problem Indian grad students are for this country…
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I feel like any of those arguments are moot when the federal government listed the school as accredited AND had a third party agency list them as accredited.
You can’t claim they should have known better when you actively committed fraud that would entrap s reasonable person.
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Yeah. The cops committed fraud when they made a fake University and should be charged. Neither ignorance nor entrapment is a valid excuse for breaking the law.
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Boxing gloves still can’t hide those tiny tiny hands.
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