Yesterday colleges across the country received further guidance on how to admit and possibly re-instate former Tri Valley University students. The National Association of Foreign Student Advisers has published some pointers on their website:
http://www.nafsa.org/resourcelibrary/default.aspx?id=24805
If you have any questions regarding your options, please don't hesitate to contact our office.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Tri-Valley Univeristy Student's ICE Interview
Tri Valley University billed itself as a “Christian Higher Education Institution aiming to offer rigorous and excellent quality academic programs…” However, in May 2010, the Department of Homeland Security began investigating the school as a fraudulent institution. In January, 2011, the school was shut down by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, leaving its estimated 1,600 students in limbo. Their SEVIS records have been frozen, meaning that they now cannot transfer to another school, even if they wanted to. Some students have been issued a Notice to Appear (NTA) in immigration court, some have been detained, others have had radio monitoring devices placed on their ankles. Students are searching for answers and many are posting on immigration message boards and sharing a lot of information, and unfortunately, some misinformation.
Yesterday, I met with one of TVU's former students in my office for a consultation. We discussed several options for him, including contacting ICE directly to find out whether they were going to interview him or serve him with an NTA. He had transferred to TVU from another school before his Optional Practical Training had expired, and enrolled in a PhD program with TVU. He was offered Curricular Practical Training (CPT) in order to accept employment while enrolled in online courses with TVU. In the meantime, his employer had filed a petition for an H-1B and change of status for him (using a different attorney), which is still pending. He told me he would weigh his options, which including leaving the country and waiting for news on his H-1B, staying and hoping the change of status would be approved, and contacting ICE regardless of whether he stayed or left.
This morning, I received a phone call from this individual with the surprising news that two men identified as DHS agents were at his apartment. He requested that I come immediately. I asked to be put on the phone with one of the agents, who identified himself, told me he was there to interview my client about TVU and said he would wait until I arrived at my client’s apartment before he be began the interview. I assured him I would be there in 15 minutes and rushed over.
When I arrived at the apartment, I introduced myself to the two agents and they showed me their DHS badges. They joked that they didn’t know attorneys made house calls.
When we were all settled, one of the agents took up his interview questions with my client. He explained that he had already asked a few questions and repeated them for me. The agent seemed to follow a script of questions on a printed sheet of paper. He was very courteous and his line of questions were focused mainly on how the university operated, with whom my client had spoken before and after enrolling and what they had told him, what the campus was like when he visited, what his coursework was like, whether he had lived in California, and how much money he had paid for tuition. The only documentation the agents were interested in seeing, aside from my client's passport, visa and I-94, was any proof of the tuition payments he had made. My client agreed to email all the electronic receipts that he had and he explained that TVU had not sent receipts for all of the payments. The agent said that he would let him know if he needed anything else, but for now, that was all the documentation he wanted. The agent provided my client and me with his business card and contact information in case we had any follow up questions or thought of any other information that might be important to the investigation.
We had a few questions for the agents, which they were very willing to answer. My client wanted to know whether he should contact ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and the agents explained that they were part of ICE, and that it’s ICE that is conducting these investigations. They clarified for him that the Department of Homeland Security is the larger government organization, and that ICE, CIS and CBP are the agencies underneath it.
I wanted to know whether they were coordinating or sharing information with CIS in cases like my client’s where someone has a request for Change of Status pending. The agent said that as far as he knows, there is no coordination, but that if anyone at CIS had a question about my client’s case, he would be happy to let them know what he had learned during the interview. He emphasized that these investigations are being conducted on a very case-by-case basis. In cases like my client’s, where the student himself was duped and where he is trying to do the right thing by contacting a lawyer and is in the process of changing status, ICE is not interested in doing anything other than gathering information about the school.
I also questioned whether they would issue an NTA to my client. He said, again, that ICE is trying to treat each case individually and that in my client’s case it was unlikely. However, if he received directions to issue an NTA, he would do his best to coordinate with my client and me so that my client would have options and would be able to make the choice to depart the country on his own if he preferred. I asked what other students in the same situation should do and he said my client had done the right thing by contacting an attorney, trying to change his status to maintain a lawful status, and that in cases like his,again, ICE is only interested in getting information for their larger investigation.
I asked whether the agent knew what happens when someone contacts ICE through the phone number or email address that have been set up for TVU students. (415-844-5320, or SFRHSIFraud@dhs.gov are the numbers my client had found.) He said he hasn’t been sent to follow up on any of those contacts personally and that his investigation is proceeding from a larger investigation and using a list of students that the university had on file. He actually wasn’t aware of the phone number or email address that I referred to and I believe it may be the San Francisco area ICE office contact information.
The other agent present was quiet throughout the interview and didn’t ask any questions. At the end, before the agents left he told me his heart went out to the students and he understands that many are very afraid right now.
My overall impression of the interview was that the ICE agents we saw today are after bigger fish than students like my client. They are interested in finding out exactly how much money TVU has obtained, who was involved in enrolling the students and what information the students were given. The agents were not intimidating or rude. One interesting point, however, is that my client and I are not clear on how they found him. He had not turned in a change of address form AR-11 to DHS and had recently moved in with his uncle, but didn’t have his name on the apartment lease. His new address wasn’t included in his H-1B petition either.
I still can’t say with 100% certainty what someone in my client’s situation should or shouldn’t do. The agents we encountered were very reasonable and even seemed quite helpful, but there’s no guarantee that other agents would conduct their investigation in the same way. There doesn’t seem to be any coordination between the ICE contact information that has been given out to students and the local ICE office in Central Texas. I think it helped very much that my client was a student who didn’t know that the university was acting in a fraudulent way, who had been completing the online coursework, and who had made an effort already to change his status.
It was good timing on my client’s part to have sought out an attorney the day before, so that he did have someone he could call when the agents appeared at his door. In a worst case scenario, I had retained copies of all of his relevant documents during his consultation and would have been prepared if he had been detained. In hindsight, I should have also requested contact information for close friends or family members in case I needed to work with them on getting him released from detention. I would recommend that to others who are seeking out an attorney right now. If you decide to retain the attorney’s services, leave them a copy of all your relevant documents and an emergency contact person’s information.
This is a highly stressful situation for a lot of innocent students and I hope that this recap of my client’s interview this morning was helpful to some of you.
Yesterday, I met with one of TVU's former students in my office for a consultation. We discussed several options for him, including contacting ICE directly to find out whether they were going to interview him or serve him with an NTA. He had transferred to TVU from another school before his Optional Practical Training had expired, and enrolled in a PhD program with TVU. He was offered Curricular Practical Training (CPT) in order to accept employment while enrolled in online courses with TVU. In the meantime, his employer had filed a petition for an H-1B and change of status for him (using a different attorney), which is still pending. He told me he would weigh his options, which including leaving the country and waiting for news on his H-1B, staying and hoping the change of status would be approved, and contacting ICE regardless of whether he stayed or left.
This morning, I received a phone call from this individual with the surprising news that two men identified as DHS agents were at his apartment. He requested that I come immediately. I asked to be put on the phone with one of the agents, who identified himself, told me he was there to interview my client about TVU and said he would wait until I arrived at my client’s apartment before he be began the interview. I assured him I would be there in 15 minutes and rushed over.
When I arrived at the apartment, I introduced myself to the two agents and they showed me their DHS badges. They joked that they didn’t know attorneys made house calls.
When we were all settled, one of the agents took up his interview questions with my client. He explained that he had already asked a few questions and repeated them for me. The agent seemed to follow a script of questions on a printed sheet of paper. He was very courteous and his line of questions were focused mainly on how the university operated, with whom my client had spoken before and after enrolling and what they had told him, what the campus was like when he visited, what his coursework was like, whether he had lived in California, and how much money he had paid for tuition. The only documentation the agents were interested in seeing, aside from my client's passport, visa and I-94, was any proof of the tuition payments he had made. My client agreed to email all the electronic receipts that he had and he explained that TVU had not sent receipts for all of the payments. The agent said that he would let him know if he needed anything else, but for now, that was all the documentation he wanted. The agent provided my client and me with his business card and contact information in case we had any follow up questions or thought of any other information that might be important to the investigation.
We had a few questions for the agents, which they were very willing to answer. My client wanted to know whether he should contact ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and the agents explained that they were part of ICE, and that it’s ICE that is conducting these investigations. They clarified for him that the Department of Homeland Security is the larger government organization, and that ICE, CIS and CBP are the agencies underneath it.
I wanted to know whether they were coordinating or sharing information with CIS in cases like my client’s where someone has a request for Change of Status pending. The agent said that as far as he knows, there is no coordination, but that if anyone at CIS had a question about my client’s case, he would be happy to let them know what he had learned during the interview. He emphasized that these investigations are being conducted on a very case-by-case basis. In cases like my client’s, where the student himself was duped and where he is trying to do the right thing by contacting a lawyer and is in the process of changing status, ICE is not interested in doing anything other than gathering information about the school.
I also questioned whether they would issue an NTA to my client. He said, again, that ICE is trying to treat each case individually and that in my client’s case it was unlikely. However, if he received directions to issue an NTA, he would do his best to coordinate with my client and me so that my client would have options and would be able to make the choice to depart the country on his own if he preferred. I asked what other students in the same situation should do and he said my client had done the right thing by contacting an attorney, trying to change his status to maintain a lawful status, and that in cases like his,again, ICE is only interested in getting information for their larger investigation.
I asked whether the agent knew what happens when someone contacts ICE through the phone number or email address that have been set up for TVU students. (415-844-5320, or SFRHSIFraud@dhs.gov are the numbers my client had found.) He said he hasn’t been sent to follow up on any of those contacts personally and that his investigation is proceeding from a larger investigation and using a list of students that the university had on file. He actually wasn’t aware of the phone number or email address that I referred to and I believe it may be the San Francisco area ICE office contact information.
The other agent present was quiet throughout the interview and didn’t ask any questions. At the end, before the agents left he told me his heart went out to the students and he understands that many are very afraid right now.
My overall impression of the interview was that the ICE agents we saw today are after bigger fish than students like my client. They are interested in finding out exactly how much money TVU has obtained, who was involved in enrolling the students and what information the students were given. The agents were not intimidating or rude. One interesting point, however, is that my client and I are not clear on how they found him. He had not turned in a change of address form AR-11 to DHS and had recently moved in with his uncle, but didn’t have his name on the apartment lease. His new address wasn’t included in his H-1B petition either.
I still can’t say with 100% certainty what someone in my client’s situation should or shouldn’t do. The agents we encountered were very reasonable and even seemed quite helpful, but there’s no guarantee that other agents would conduct their investigation in the same way. There doesn’t seem to be any coordination between the ICE contact information that has been given out to students and the local ICE office in Central Texas. I think it helped very much that my client was a student who didn’t know that the university was acting in a fraudulent way, who had been completing the online coursework, and who had made an effort already to change his status.
It was good timing on my client’s part to have sought out an attorney the day before, so that he did have someone he could call when the agents appeared at his door. In a worst case scenario, I had retained copies of all of his relevant documents during his consultation and would have been prepared if he had been detained. In hindsight, I should have also requested contact information for close friends or family members in case I needed to work with them on getting him released from detention. I would recommend that to others who are seeking out an attorney right now. If you decide to retain the attorney’s services, leave them a copy of all your relevant documents and an emergency contact person’s information.
This is a highly stressful situation for a lot of innocent students and I hope that this recap of my client’s interview this morning was helpful to some of you.
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