India has made a diplomatic protest to the US after 129 Indian students were arrested for enrolling in a fake university.
The University of Farmington, advertised as based in Michigan state, was run by undercover agents from the Department of Homeland Security to expose “pay-to-stay” immigration fraud.
Prosecutors say those who enrolled knew that the facility would be illegal.
However, Indian officials say the students may have been duped.
On Saturday, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued the protest to the US embassy in Delhi, expressing concern over the arrests and demanding consular access to those detained.
“Our concern over the dignity and wellbeing of the detained students and the need for immediate consular access for Indian officials to the detainees was reiterated,” the ministry said.
The fake university was set up in 2015 to try to catch foreign nationals who had initially travelled to the US on student visas and wanted to stay in the country, US media reported.
A website for the University of Farmington showed pictures of students in classes and libraries, or relaxing around a grassy campus.
US immigration authorities have resorted to increasingly tough enforcement tactics in recent years.
In a precedent to the latest sting, immigration agents set up the fake University of Northern New Jersey in 2016 under the Obama administration. A total of 21 people, mostly from China and India, were arrested.
Over the past two years, the Trump administration has further clamped down on undocumented migrants and visa overstayers.
Workplace raids have led to hundreds of arrests.
In two massive operations last year, ICE agents detained 146 people at a meat supplier in Ohio and another 150 at a trailer manufacturer in Texas.
