A few students from India were lost in a puddle of broken dreams when they were deported and sent back to India, not allowed to study there.
It started off on December 19th, when 14 students, who flew to San Fransisco, on Air India, were sent back home. Though they had valid documents, they were deported to India, mainly because the college to which they were headed, was a blacklisted college! Silicon Valley University, California and Northwest Polytechnic University, also in California, were two of the blacklisted colleges to which most of the students were going, before being forced to return to India. They were not just deported, but these were put behind bars and kept in cells, to add to their already humiliated feeling, after a 15-hour interrogation by the FBI. Not just this, their conversations on WhatsApp and posts on Facebook and Google+ were also checked, to see whether they were really going for the purpose of studying, with an interest.
It seems as though students from the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state, (Telugu students) are being singled out. While other Indian students had a relatively soft enquiry, while entering the USA, Telugu students had quite a different kind of one. It has been mostly Telugu students, who are in a way, being targeted when it comes to deporting.
A lot of these students are from the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh region, so Hyderabad airport has been busy ‘not allowing’ students to board their planes.Another eighteen students, from the same two regions, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, returned to Hyderabad on Saturday(2nd December, 2016).The total now has risen to 68, from these particular regions only. The ones who returned reported that the US officials forcibly took their fingerprints, and also stated that that they were put behind bars with no food or water, without even committing a crime.
The USA officials threatened the students, saying that their entry into the country would be barred for 5 years, if they refused to return. The were asked many questions, and though their replies to all of them were satisfactory, AND they had valid documents, AND they had a valid visa, they were forced out of the country without even being given a proper reason!
It’s high time that the Indian government takes some action to prevent any further deportation of individuals from the country. The students are not in the wrong. They can’t be humiliated in this way.
It is not just a problem of those going to study, businessmen and even visitors too are being deported! This situation is turning into a diplomatic issue, between India and America.
The ministry of external affairs has advised all travellers to carry all the required documentation, and for those who are going to study, other supporting documents such as financial support, proof of place of stay among other things.
TANA(Telugu Association of North America) officials have been working with the Indian and US authorities to resolve this crisis.