India hoped the US authorities will "treat well" and provide "adequate opportunity" to hundreds of Indian students, affected after a California-based University was shut down by authorities on charges of illegal immigration, to clarify their position.
"We are in touch with the US authorities. We are very concerned about the impact of the action that has been taken against those students who have enrolled at the university. Our consul general in San Fransisco has met 35 of those students already and we are in touch with relevant Federal agency on the US side.
"The students have gone on valid student visa. Some of them were transferred from other universities to Tri-Valley," the officials said New Delhi.
"Our immediate concern is the welfare of these students. We hope they are treated well by the US agency and given adequate opportunity to clarify their position," they said.
Duped by the authorities of Tri-Valley University, which has been shut down, hundreds of Indian students, mostly from Andhra Pradesh, faced the threat of being deported back home after having lost their student visa status.
Officials also noted that with a strength of over 10 lakh, Indian students constituted the second largest foreign student community in the US after Chinese pupils. Meanwhile, reports from the San Francisco area said a number of students have been interrogated by federal authorities as part of their investigation against the Tri-Valley University which is being charged as part of an effort to defraud, misuse visa permits, and indulge in money laundering and other crimes.
According to a federal complaint filed in a California court last week, the University had helped foreign nationals illegally acquire immigration status. The university is said to have 1,555 students. As many as 95 per cent of these students are Indian nationals, the complaint said.
