A foreign student is being deported after admitting to scamming the State and Homeland Security departments and a major U.S. university into helping him obtain a visa and a full ride to a college education.
The case of Aryan Anand of India has become a social media sensation and an embarrassing black eye for the government.
In a lengthy write-up on Reddit, he explains how he created a bogus website and email address for his high school that would ensure he would be the one submitting the fake records and answering any questions about them. He fabricated a death certificate for his father, who is alive, to obtain a full scholarship, and he bamboozled the State Department into clearing him for the student visa.
He settled in at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, where he applied for an internship and was hired, even though he was not authorized to work in the U.S.
He then blew the whistle on himself in his confessional post on Reddit. Another user saw it and forwarded it to investigators.
“I have built my life and career on lies,” he said.
He is now unraveling those lies. On June 12, he pleaded guilty to forgery in exchange for other charges being dropped. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him and put him before an immigration judge, who ordered him deported.
The Times Herald in Northampton, Pennsylvania, reported that Lehigh was forgiving the $85,000 in tuition and other costs he bilked under the condition that he accept his deportation.
Jon Feere, a former chief of staff at ICE, which oversees the student visa program, said there is plenty of blame.
“Every step of the way, the right questions weren’t asked,” he said. “It really raises serious questions about how widespread fraud like this is within our system. This isn’t just a one-off case. This is simply a case where the person who engaged in the fraud admitted to the wrongdoing.”
Anand, 18, characterized his scam as an escape from his life in India, where he was an unmotivated student. His high school grades dropped as he spent time watching horror movies.
He figured he would never get into a college in India with his record, so he began looking abroad. He gravitated to U.S. schools with generous need-based aid packages.
In his Reddit post, he said he faked his school records and email address, used ChatGPT to write his college essays and applied to schools across the U.S. that promised to meet a student’s financial needs.
Lehigh offered him a “very good” package of tuition and nearly full board — everything but meals. He said his father could have afforded that cost but he would “have to listen to everything he tells me.” His solution, he wrote, was to craft a fake death certificate, argue that his mother couldn’t afford anything and hope the school would pay more. The school promised to cover tuition, housing, meals and even one round-trip flight.
He said he was nervous about the student visa process, but he had no reason to be.
“They first asked why this university and all. I said something unique about the uni and then said they also gave me a full ride, which means full scholarship. As soon as she saw that on my I20 (it’s a doc for the visa), she said, ‘Oh, that’s good,’ smiled and said congrats, and said, ‘You must be very smart’ … and instantly typed something on the computer and said your visa is approved,” he recounted.
Anand arrived as a freshman last summer as a computer science major. He said he was still unmotivated and cheated on his exams.
He wanted a job to earn money but knew that was illegal for a student visa holder. He applied for an internship, fabricated his resume and college records, and got a part-time remote job earning $1,500 monthly.
ICE said he was not authorized to work, which was another violation of his visa terms.
ICE described the case as a victory.
“The discovery of the student’s fraudulent activities directed toward Lehigh University and government entities and diligent collaboration in taking prompt action demonstrates that fraud in the student visa system will not be tolerated,” the agency said.
ICE said it is up to the schools to initiate a visa and the State Department to decide whether to grant it.
Lehigh didn’t respond to requests for comment.
ICE said Lehigh “fulfilled” its duties by notifying the government of the case and terminating Anand’s file in ICE’s student visa system.
The State Department, in response to an inquiry from The Washington Times about his description of the student visa interview, defended its process but said the interviewer must use the information that the student and the school provide.
“Visa applicants are continuously screened, both at the time of their application and afterward, to ensure they remain eligible to travel to the United States,” the department said.
Mr. Feere said the State Department figures the Homeland Security Department is vetting the overseas schools. Homeland Security figures the U.S. colleges are taking responsibility, and the colleges figure someone in the federal government is.
In the end, none of them was.
Add to that a permissive attitude that shifts the burden from the migrant proving he is worthy to the U.S. to prove he is not.
“That type of mentality is exactly what allows a high school kid to defraud the entire system,” Mr. Feere said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.