The University of Farmington in Farmington Hills, Mich., billed itself as a “nationally accredited business and STEM institution,” with an innovative curriculum, flexible class schedules and a diverse student body. But it had no curriculum, no classes and no real students, the authorities said this week. The university in the suburbs of Detroit was part of an undercover operation by the Department of Homeland Security designed to expose immigration fraud, according to federal prosecutors who announced charges in the case. In what the authorities called a “pay to stay” scheme, foreign students knowingly enrolled in the fake school to falsely maintain their student visa status and remain in the United States, according to prosecutors. The authorities charged eight “recruiters” in the case. They are accused of enlisting at least 600 people to enroll in the school. Prosecutors said the recruiters collected money from the fake university for bringing in students and made more than $250,000 in profit.<doc-sep>The University of Farmington in Farmington Hills, Michigan, billed itself as a “nationally accredited business and STEM institution,” with an innovative curriculum, flexible class schedules and a diverse student body. But it had no curriculum, no classes and no real students, authorities said this week. The university in the suburbs of Detroit was part of an undercover operation by the Department of Homeland Security designed to expose immigration fraud, according to federal prosecutors who announced charges in the case. In what authorities called a “pay to stay” scheme, foreign students knowingly enrolled in the fake school to falsely maintain their student visa status and remain in the United States, according to prosecutors. Authorities charged eight “recruiters” in the case. They are accused of enlisting at least 600 people to enrol in the school. Prosecutors said the recruiters collected money from the fake university for bringing in students and made more than $250,000 (£191,000) in profit. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also detained people who had enrolled at the university, according to immigration lawyers working on the case. “I have received calls from Georgia, Louisiana, California, North Carolina,” said Ravi Mannam, an immigration lawyer based in Atlanta. “It seems to be a nationwide ICE action as we speak.” The students swept up in the scheme were largely from India, lawyers said. “We are all aware that international students can be a valuable asset to our country,” Matthew Schneider, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said in a news release Wednesday. “But as this case shows, the well-intended international student visa program can also be exploited and abused.” ICE did not respond to requests for comment Thursday ✕ Fox News fact checks Donald Trump's claims on undocumented immigration and border controls Undercover agents from Homeland Security Investigations had posed as the owners and employees of the University of Farmington since February 2017, the indictments said. The university had a real website with program details, tuition pricing and contact information. The phone number for the university went to a voicemail box for the “office of admissions.” But the university was not staffed with instructors and had no actual classes, according to the indictments. Prosecutors said that everyone involved with the school knew that. “Each of the foreign citizens who ‘enrolled’ and made ‘tuition’ payments to the University knew that they would not attend any actual classes, earn credits, or make academic progress towards an actual degree in a particular field of study,” the indictments said, adding that the students knew that “discretion should be used when discussing the program with others.” But Mr Mannam, the immigration lawyer, criticised the undercover operation as misleading and said some students had believed they were enrolling in a legitimate program. He said some students had come from India to the United States to enrol elsewhere, only to find that their intended program had lost accreditation. So they enrolled at the University of Farmington, believing that they could apply their prior credits to the new program, which seemed to emphasise work experience, he said. Other students had completed legitimate master’s programmes in the United States but were waiting to be approved for a speciality work visa, so they enrolled in school as a “stopgap measure,” he said. “The government utilised very questionable and troubling methods to get these foreign students to join the institution,” Mr Mannam said. President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Show all 36 1 /36 President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Hannah McKay (Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and U.S. President Donald Trump walk away after holding a joint news conference at Chequers) "This was the third and final time I was photographing Donald Trump during his working visit to the UK. I'd noticed he had a tendency to hold Theresa May by the hand when they used stairs, so I lay on the floor for fifteen minutes waiting for the pair to exit via some steps. As they did, Trump took May by the arm and shouted over his shoulder, "Yes" in response to the question "Mr. President, will you tell Putin to stay out of the U.S elections?" - from a reporter in the press conference." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Kevin Lamarque (President Trump confers with White House Communications Director Hope Hicks as Press Secretary Sarah Sanders listens) "I stayed in the room after our reporters had left, and seemingly unnoticed like the cliched 'fly on the wall', I was witness to this unusual moment." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Chris Bergin (A supporter of Trump and Republican senate candidate Mike Braun at an election night party in Indianapolis) "I saw the colour-coordinated woman in the back of the ball room while covering mid-term elections. She stood out to me because she was lit by a single overhead light that created deep shadows." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Shannon Stapleton (Stormy Daniels, puts her shoe back on after passing through a security screening, as she arrives at federal court) "On the morning that I took this picture there was a mad scrum outside the courthouse to get a picture of Stormy Daniels. She didn't enter the regular entrance of a media gauntlet that was set up for her. I placed myself by a window where I saw her passing through the metal detector. Shooting through the window was difficult but I was able to make the frame." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Carlos Barria (President Trump appears on the South Portico of the White House with the Easter Bunny during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll) "There are many holiday events at the White House, but one of the most light-hearted happens during Easter, when the President shows up at the balcony of the South Portico accompanied by someone in a big Easter bunny costume. I didn't have the best position, but towards the end, the bunny stood behind the President and I was able to take this shot." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Kevin Lamarque (Melania Trump wearing a jacket with the phrase "I Really Don't Care. Do U?" on the back after a visit to the US-Mexico border in Texas) "I could not see the words on Melania's jacket when she boarded Air Force One. I only heard about it once airborne. But there was no way I was going to miss it again, and to my utter astonishment, she was wearing it once more upon her return to Washington." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst (A White House staff member reaches for the microphone held by CNN's Jim Acosta as he questions President Trump during a news conference following the midterm congressional elections) "Covering politics has always felt to me like photographing a live theatre production - the actors and stage are usually set in a familiar way. But even if you've seen a specific play many times, there is always the possibility that there will be something exciting or new. It became obvious during this exchange that the dialogue was going in a different direction than expected, and I took it as a cue to make sure I gave the scene extra attention." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Leah Millis (Trump boards Air Force One for travel to Ohio) "We photograph departures and landings hundreds of times. Sometimes, as in this case, the clouds or the light can give you a little gift." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst (Donald and Melania Trump stand beside French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife on a visit to the estate of the first US President George Washington) "I'm always happy for events that take us off the White House campus and provide new visual opportunities. This day, when the Trumps feted the Macrons at George Washington's historic estate, it provided just the right contrast for the stylish leader-couples as they took their spots for an otherwise posed moment." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Kevin Lamarque (President Trump gestures after arriving in Pennsylvania to take part in the annual September 11 observance) "Celebratory fist pumps on a national day of mourning and reflection caught even the most seasoned of us off guard." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Peter Nicholls (Demonstrators fly a baby Trump blimp in London's Parliament Square, during his UK visit) "I took this picture of the Trump blimp from a wall at the back of Parliament Square, to get a clear view from above the crowd, as it was revealed for the first time, prior to a day of protests during his visit to the UK, mid-July." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst (President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un walk together before their working lunch during their summit in Singapore) "On a historic and difficult day, it was fun to look for the odd angle or expression. Here, Trump and Kim walk away after impromptu remarks to reporters - which clearly pleased the North Korean leader." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Ronen Zvulun (Ivanka Trump and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stand next to the dedication plaque at the new US embassy in Jerusalem) "I shot this picture when I was standing on a platform really close to Ivanka Trump. I knew exactly where to stand and what lens to use because I did a tour the day before. I knew this was the key picture we had been waiting for since the story broke some weeks before." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Leah Millis (The imprint of French President Emmanuel Macron's thumb across the back of Trump's hand at a bilateral meeting at the G7 Summit) "This is taken right after the first photo-op the two presidents had at the G7 summit after they had a tense back-and-forth on Twitter. They were smiling but Macron gripped Trump's hand quite hard and I noticed that it left a visible impression on Trump's hand." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Kevin Lamarque (President Trump meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki) "Body language can give an ordinary photo much more meaning, and here, Trump and Putin did not disappoint." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Joshua Roberts (A father of a Florida shooting victim tries to shake hands with Brett Kavanaugh during his US Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation) "This moment happened in a break in testimony. Kavanaugh seemed surprised as Guttenberg approached but as he turned away he looked anxious. Kavanaugh later said he did not understand who Guttenberg was at the time." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Carlo Allegri (First lady Melania Trump visits the Pyramids in Cairo) "The First Lady had taken a tour of African nations and could not depart the continent without a visit to the incredible pyramids of Egypt where I, as part of the traveling press pool, was able to make this photo of her looking out over Giza Pyramid Complex." Reuters President Trump: a year of high drama at home and abroad Reuters photographer Brian Snyder (Trump and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel hold a joint news conference in the White House) "The East Room felt tense even before President Trump and Chancellor Merkel entered for their joint news conference. With Merkel's podium behind the President's from my vantage point, she seemed to want to keep an eye on him.<doc-sep>
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents set up a fake university in Michigan that enrolled hundreds of foreign nationals participating in a "pay to stay" scheme in which they could remain in the US, The Detroit News reported, citing a federal grand-jury indictment. The University of Farmington was not a college but an office pretending to function as one. Hundreds of foreigners paid thousands of dollars to live and work in the US with student visas despite not being students at all, the indictment said. The indictment said students knew their enrollment in the university was illegal but did not know the school was run by ICE. The University of Farmington had no staff, no professors, no curriculum, and no classes. But it did have hundreds of foreign "students," who may now face deportation because of their willingness to participate in what authorities described as a "pay to stay" scheme in which they could live and work in the US under false pretenses. It was part of a sting by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents who were secretly running the fake university in Farmington, Michigan, in an attempt to crack down on immigration fraud. Citing a federal grand-jury indictment, The Detroit News, the first to report on the sting, said ICE's fake university led to the arrest of eight student recruiters on charges that they participated in a conspiracy to help at least 600 foreign nationals stay in the US illegally by committing visa fraud. The indictment said that "the University was being used by foreign citizens as a 'pay to stay' scheme which allowed these individuals to stay in the United States as a result of foreign citizens falsely asserting that they were enrolled as full-time students in an approved educational program and that they were making normal progress toward completion of the course of study." On Wednesday, The News reported, federal agents detained dozens of University of Farmington students on immigration-violation charges. They could face deportation, an ICE spokesman told the newspaper. Most of the eight recruiters who were arrested are from India, but they all live in the US, The News reported, adding that they didn't know the university was run by ICE. "These suspects aided hundreds of foreign nationals to remain in the United States illegally by helping to portray them as students, which they most certainly were not," Steve Francis, a special agent in charge of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations office in Detroit, told The News. The university began in 2015 as part of an operation called "Paper Chase," which intensified early into Donald Trump's presidency as the administration urged a stronger crackdown on illegal immigration, The News reported. At first sight, the University of Farmington looked legit. Its .edu website featured the school's logo, a red-and-blue coat of arms with a Latin slogan meaning "knowledge and work," The News reported. The website is no longer up — a notice on it says the school has been shut down by immigration agents — but a cached version saved by Wayback Machine has a photo of smiling students in class, as well as details about undergraduate and graduate programs. A screenshot of the University of Farmington's now defunct website. Wayback Machine In its "factoids" section, the school's website offers a few details: Undergraduate tuition is $8,500 a year, no courses are taught by teaching assistants, and the school's president speaks four languages. But nowhere on the website is there a profile — or even the name — of the president. The university also had active social-media profiles, including a Facebook page that The News found had events scheduled into early February. It also had a physical office, albeit not a campus, in the basement of a complex in Farmington, across the hall from a café, The News reported. "It's creative, and it's not entrapment," Peter Henning, a former federal prosecutor who's now a law professor at Wayne State University, told The News. "The government can put out the bait, but it's up to the defendants to fall for it." The eight recruiters are accused of helping foreign nationals fraudulently obtain documents from the university like student records and transcripts that would make it easier for them to get student visas, The News reported. It said they also "collectively received $250,000 in cash and kickbacks to find students to attend the university." The students enrolled in Farmington were also aware that the program was illegal, according to The News.