Students who enrolled at a fake Michigan university set up by immigration agents have the right to sue the U.S. government, a federal appellate court ruled.

A decision last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit means hundreds of students who paid tuition at the University of Farmington in Farmington Hills – created by undercover agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – have a legal basis to continue pursuing their claims in court. Farmington Hills is about 20 miles northwest of Detroit.

In 2020, a lawsuit was filed against the U.S. government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims by attorneys on behalf of Teja Ravi and other students enrolled at the University of Farmington, which was shut down by ICE after agents arrested about 250 of its students. The lawsuit said the government breached its contract with the students by stealing their tuition money, about $11,000 per year for each student. Students are asking for their money back and other punitive damages.

The Department of Homeland Security didn't immediately respond to the Detroit Free Press' request for comment. The Detroit Free Press is part of the USA TODAY Network. ICE has previously stated it was trying to combat visa fraud.

The claims court dismissed the lawsuit in 2022 on technical grounds because the case lacked jurisdiction. Three judges with the appeals court overturned that decision on June 25 and remanded the case back to the claims court.

"This decision is not just a legal win, but a moral one," Prudhivi Raj, a former student at the university, said in a June 28 statement. "It underscores that no one, not even the government, is above the fundamental principles of fairness and honesty. ... We are grateful for this outcome and remain steadfast in our commitment to justice."

ICE sets up fake university to catch visa fraud

ICE started its undercover operation in 2015, creating a fake office with a website and an admissions process like a regular university. The University of Farmington was even listed on the website of ICE as a school approved by the U.S. government for students.

It seemed real to its 600-plus students, a majority of them immigrants from India interested in studying technology and science. Many students live and work legally in the U.S. through university programs such as the one the University of Farmington touted. The students had arrived legally in the U.S. and were on F-1 student visa programs when they enrolled.

But it was all an elaborate operation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations to trick international students they allege were trying to "pay to stay" in the U.S., a claim the students deny. ICE arrested hundreds of students, deported many of them and others left the U.S. on their own.

"The U.S. government (is) refusing to take accountability for the parents separated from their children over this, the couples separated over this, and the financial burden on families," said attorney Anna Nathanson, who represents the students and argued the case in court. "The need for justice is urgent.”

Records reveal the Department of Homeland Security went to great lengths to deceive the students, said their attorneys.

The fake university was incorporated in Michigan in January 2016, records with the state's Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs revealed. The Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges, which was working with the U.S. on its sting operation, also listed the university as legitimate.

The Free Press previously obtained emails and undercover recordings by ICE that revealed in part how the operation was conducted.

Students led on about classes, paying thousands for fake university

Ravi said he had paid $12,500 in tuition to the University of Farmington when he enrolled in March 2018. He and other students became suspicious when classes didn't start and contacted the university to find out what was happening, but were not helped.

Ravi was "informed that he would have a regular class schedule and have regular class," the lawsuit said. "But he was never enrolled in classes or given assignments. As soon as the semester commenced, and he still was not enrolled in classes, he contacted officials at the University to ask about classes and assignments. A university official advised him not worry about it as that was not an issue."

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After hearing a rumor the university may be fake, Ravi "was told by a University official that the rumor was not true," the lawsuit said.

In their decision, the three judges noted that Ravi never got his money back, saying, "The allegations of fact we accept as true for purposes of this appeal are straightforward."

The judges said Ravi "paid thousands of dollars to the 'University of Farmington' to enroll as a student, expecting to take classes. At the time of his enrollment, Mr. Ravi was unaware that the University was not a university at all but had been formed and advertised to offer educational services for money—though not actually provide them—as an undercover operation of ... (DHS) to target fraud involving student visas. The government’s operation eventually came to light, but the government neither provided the paid-for education nor gave Mr. Ravi his money back."

Students said they were entrapped, but ICE officials defended their actions.

Vance Callender, the former special agent in charge of the Detroit office of HSI at the time who was later placed on leave after agents raided his home in 2022, told the Free Press in 2019 that “HSI special agents, as part of this undercover operation, made it abundantly clear in their interactions with potential University of Farmington enrollees that the school did not offer academic or vocational programs of any kind. The individuals who enrolled in the University of Farmington did so intentionally."

A Free Press report in November 2019 about additional arrests of students sparked outrage from several elected officials against ICE, including then-U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.; U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., among others.

"This is cruel and appalling," Warren wrote in 2019 on Twitter, now X, linking to the Free Press story. "These students simply dreamed of getting the high-quality higher education America can offer. ICE deceived and entrapped them, just to deport them."

In 2022, more than 40 organizations signed a letter calling upon the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to investigate how the department operated the University of Farmington and asked for redress of the students.

Nathanson said the students were "unjustly targeted by this fake ICE university."

She added that the court's ruling last week has implications that go beyond this particular case and could set a legal precedent when the government overreaches in contracts with private parties.

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or X @nwarikoo

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