Nearly 18 Indian students hailing from Telangana, who were going to the United States of America for higher studies, were deported by US authorities. With their hopes dashed and dreams unfulfilled, the Telugu students had returned back to Hyderabad on Saturday morning at the Rajiv Gandhi International airport after their visas cancelled and were deported by US authorities.
These students arrived in an Emirates flight and apparently were denied entry at New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle airports. They apparently secured admission in the controversial Silicon Valley University (SVU) and Northwestern Polytechnic University NPU in California.
The students who turned back also admitted that they were ill-treated by the US Customs and Border Protection at John F Kennedy Airport International Airport, and they had been interrogated mercilessly besides possessing valid documents. The students had been kept at the New York airport for hours by officials carrying guns and they were not even offered food and water. They had to sit with fans running around them at freeing temperature and their pleas to the officials went unheeded. The officials had even threatened the students that they will not be given permission for US entry for about 5 years if they didn’t return home and withdraw from the situation.
The students stated that they had no idea why they were sent back even when they had answered the interview questions posed by the authorities. A student who wanted anonymity stated that “One officer said he was doing this on the boss’ order.” According to another student who had enrolled at the Northwestern Polytechnic University, California stated that the officials had said that he had some visa problem and had to get into another university and then reapply to come back. The students had kept on insisting that the universities had not been blacklisted but the officials did not budge.
In the last 3-4 months, nearly 90 students have been deported and this has happened besides all the adequate formalities required for visa and documentation. Anil, who was admitted to the NPU, said that Telugu students were being singled out and warned that they were joining a poor university and they better return. However, Indian students from other States did not face much problem, he said. The authorities had questioned them for several hours and those some of them were arrested.
This has proven to be a huge blow to the students who have been aiming at getting higher education in the US and has also been a huge financial blow to the parents who slogged to arrange money for their kids’ future. Isn’t it time the Indian Government intervenes and protects the educational life of these students aspiring for a brighter future?