Misleading information from UNNJ – Were the students just victims?
ICE is talking about the big sting operation on the so-called University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ) arresting agents and punishing students by cutting their SEVIS. While unfortunately many students actually used “agents” or “consultants” to get into UNNJ, many others were just duped through the website, the Facebook and the recommendations thinking it was an accredited genuine university.
The question is whether ICE and SEVIS are actually taking into consideration:
– What happens if the students have never violated a visa before?
– What happens to those who directly called the school and answered by an “administrator” that the school was legally compliant? Note: an administrator whom we know now was a federal agent, and not not one of the “bad agents or consultants”.
– The same administrator even mentioned that it was ‘legal’ not to attend classes. Was that not misleading the students?
– What happened to those who are not familiar with US federal laws on student visas?
If some students genuinely believed that the school was totally legitimate, are those students going to be penalized too? Will that be situations when a reinstatement is possible?
Now, what is next? The best option is for the government to value the lives of the students and give them a chance to do a reinstatement instead of asking them to leave the country.
We are seeing very problematic situations in many of the students we are speaking to, especially those who have already transferred from UNNJ when they started seeing something was “fishy” with that school.
DHS has already been home visiting few UNNJ students and some have already been arrested. We recommend that you exercise your right to counsel which means the right to have an attorney present (paid or free depending on the charges).
As you can see things are unfolding very quickly. We have created a forum link to post your questions. Do not use facebook or social media to ask questions or post your case. Please do not mention your full name:
