The fake University of Farmington, set up by the Department of Homeland Security, that resulted in the arrest of 250 foreign students this year and prompted outrage from leftists, was a concept embraced by the Obama administration, which engaged in similar operations.
Leftists experienced a collective freakout this week after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of dozens of foreign nationals committing visa fraud by enrolling in the fake university. It was “part of a sting operation by federal agents who enticed foreign-born students, mostly from India, to attend the school that marketed itself as offering graduate programs in technology and computer studies,” the Detroit Free Press reported.
As Breitbart News detailed:
The Indian workers enrolled in the fake university to get work permits via two federal programs. The two programs are the Optional Practical Training and the Curricular Practical Training programs. The two programs keep more than 400,000 foreign graduates in jobs sought by U.S. graduates and it provides billions in revenue for the U.S. investors, as well as the Indian-born hiring managers who traffick them into jobs in many companies throughout the U.S. economy. The OPT program also feeds foreign workers into the H-1B visa program, which allows employers to hire imported workers and then pay them with low wages and a promise of citizenship.
The Indians knew the university was fake because it did not require them to take classes — which is similar to many other colleges around the United States which provide OPT to foreign workers on “Day One” of enrollment.
The news prompted wails from notable leftists. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called the practice “cruel and appalling,” while Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) implied that the operation was an idea birthed by the Trump administration.
“Earlier this year, Congress rushed to approve BILLIONS more $ for ICE + CBP. I saw members voting YES w/o even a summary of the bill,” she wrote.
“Nobody cared then how we’d pay for it. Now ICE is setting up fake universities to trap students,” she claimed. “Yet we were called radical for opposing it”:
Earlier this year, Congress rushed to approve BILLIONS more $ for ICE + CBP.
I saw members voting YES w/o even a summary of the bill. Nobody cared then how we’d pay for it.
Now ICE is setting up fake universities to trap students.
Yet we were called radical for opposing it.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 27, 2019