Hyderabad: Fourteen Indian students who travelled to the US last week chasing college dreams have been deported allegedly after being kept in jail cells in San Francisco. They allege that they were questioned by the FBI.
Another set of students, 19 of them, were stopped by Air India from taking a flight from Hyderabad to San Francisco even though they had visas. Air India says these students were stopped so that they could avoid the humiliation of being deported.
What is common between these two groups is that they were heading to the Silicon Valley University at San Jose and North Western Polytechnic College, Fremont, both in California; these universities have been blacklisted by the US, according to Air India.
The students have taken admission at two San Francisco-based varsities that are currently under US government scanner, an Air India official said.
“In the past, we have witnessed that students who secured admission in those institutions have been deported to India as soon as they land there. To avoid embarrassment to them and save their money, we prevented them from boarding the flight,” the official said on Tuesday.
The government-run airline is refunding the entire ticket cost to these students, the official added.
In a statement, Air India said they had on December 19 received a communication from the US Customs and Border Protection Agency that the two universities were under scrutiny and students who arrived in San Francisco were not allowed to enter the US and deported back to India.
“So far, 14 students who travelled on Air India flights to San Francisco have been deported. Students travel on a one-way ticket to the US and, in the event of deportation, incur huge expenditure to buy a ticket back to India on first available service. Further, seats are often not available on any airlines to travel back,” the statement said.
Considering the situation, students booked for travel to take admission to these universities are not being accepted on Air India flights, it further said.
The national carrier will start accepting students travelling to the US to join the two universities at no additional cost as soon as clearance is received from Air India’s US office for their travel, it added.
Meanwhile, one of the universities in question said on its website that “absolutely false” reports are being disseminated by certain media outlets and other groups that the institute has been blacklisted by the US government.
When contacted, an immigration official at the airport said that clearance for boarding a flight has to be given by the airline concerned through the issuance of boarding pass.
“The students were not issued boarding passes. It is the airline’s responsibility to clear passengers. We have nothing to do with the issue,” he said.
US Consulate officials said they are trying to gather information on the episode.
