Washington: Federal law enforcement officials have arrested a total of 15 students for illegally staying in the United States, 11 of whom are from India. Immigration and customs officials have arrested the students from several other cities, including Boston, Washington, Houston, and two from India, two from Libya, one from Senegal, and one from Bangladesh.
According to the officials, the students have been arrested under the Optical Illusion Campaign. Under this campaign, non-immigrant students who remain in the United States using the Optical Practical Training (OPT) program are arrested. Under this program, non-immigrant students are allowed to work in the field related to their education for one year.
Apart from this one year, they are also allowed to work in the country for 24 months, provided the students take part in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) alternative practical training. ICE said that these students were claiming to work in companies which are not really companies.
An Indian-American man in California has been sentenced to 188 months in prison for violating labor rules and three victims have been ordered by a court to pay 15 15,657 in compensation for wages and other damages. Accused Satish Kartan and his wife Sharmishtha Barai were found guilty of violating labor law on March 14, 2019 after an 11-day trial.
Barai was sentenced on October 2 to 15 years and eight months in prison. The couple hired personnel from abroad to work in their home and made them work for 18-18 hours and some of them even got a little bit of remuneration.
