TVU President Indicted

The President of the Tri-Valley University (TVU), Susan Xiao-Ping Su, was on Monday indicted by federal agencies for her involvement in the student visas scam. She is reported to have stashed away $3.2 million by issuing fake visas to foreign students.

Susan is charged with fraudulently issuing student visas to foeign students, and for money laundering. There are 33 cases registered against her, and each indictment could earn her one to 20 years in prison.

The charges against her include counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, visa fraud, false documentation, and unauthorised access to a government computer and money.

When the TVU was shut down in January 2011, the 1,600 students of the university (95% of whom are Indians), were left in the lurch. The students had pleaded ignorance to the irregularities that surrounded their student visas.

With most of the Indian students belonging to the state of Andhra Pradesh, the state government was drawn into the proceedings.

With the help of some legal institutions, the TVU students quickly got themselves enrolled in other universities. While some students were able to hold on to their F-1 visas (a non-immigrant full-time student visa that allows foreigners to study in the USA, and is valid for as long as the bearer is a full-time student), other students faced the risk of deportation.

Many students opted to leave the USA when they were summoned by the authorities for interrogations.

The TVU students who are still in the USA have been sporting Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) tags around their ankles. These mico-chip embedded tags are generally used on pets, and on criminals, so as to be able to track them if they go astray.

The students lament that they are being treated like criminals when they are little more than innocent victims.