Hyderabad: Eighteen more Indian students who had opted for low-profile universities in the US have been deported. These students, who hail from AP and Telangana, returned to Hyderabad on Saturday.
With this the total number of students who were sent back to Hyderabad in the last week increased to 68. Majority of the students who were deported were to take admissions in Silicon Valley University and North Western Polytechnic University. They were stopped by US immigration officials at Seattle and New York airports, their visas were cancelled and they were sent back.
The students who arrived on Saturday meanwhile alleged a “conspiracy” by US officials and said that only Telugu students were being targeted. Their parents demanded that the Centre, and the AP and TS governments should intervene in the issue and save the future of their wards.
Students complained of interrogation and ill treatment by US Customs and Border Protection officials at US airports though all their documents were valid. They said the US officials also forcibly took their fingerprints. They were apparently detained for several hours without water and food.
They said the officials threatened to bar their entry into the US for five years if they did not return home. The students also claimed that they were not given any reasons for being denied entry in the US though they gave satisfactory replies to the questions asked and possessed valid documents.
“After my arrival at Seattle airport, officials shifted me to another terminal when I said I was joining NPU. They took me inside a room and interrogated from 8 pm to 11 pm. I gave satisfactory replies to all their questions and submitted all the original documents. Even after that, they made me wait there for six more hours and finally told me that my visa was cancelled and I would have to return to India immediately. When I asked one US officer, he told me that though I gave all satisfactory replies, he was cancelling my visa on his boss' orders,” said Mr D. Anil Kumar, a student.
Another student K. Prateek, who had gone to join SVU, California said, “They asked me if I had bought the visa. I was told that I could apply again for admission to another university and come back but I would have to return now. Not only SVU and NPU, students who had taken admissions in other universities were also sent back,” he said. The students also said the US officials were not convinced when they pointed out that their universities were not blacklisted by the US authorities.
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