Appeals Court Rules Students Can Sue US Over Fake University Created by ICE

Last week, a federal appeals court overturned a lower court decision that dismissed a lawsuit filed by a student who was duped by a fake university set up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, court documents show.

The U.S. Court of Appeals' June 25 ruling opens the door for Ravi and others to sue the fake college, which ICE created in 2015 and advertised online.

The fictional University of Farmington, part of a sting operation, came to light in 2019 when eight people were indicted in Michigan for visa fraud and harboring aliens for profit.

The operation was aimed at combating student visa fraud, but the university offered no courses, no programs and no teachers, according to court documents.

Ravi was one of the people deceived when he applied to the fake school, and he was never refunded his tuition, he claimed in the lawsuit.

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening on the allegations in the lawsuit or the appeals court's decision.

The government's scheme was eventually exposed, but the government neither provided the paid education nor reimbursed Mr. Ravi, the appeals court wrote in its opinion.

Ravi, an Indian citizen who was living in Houston when he applied in 2018, filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and all other students, alleging breach of contract.

Ravi said in his complaint that he paid $12,500 in tuition to what he believed to be a legitimate college. He even said he received emails from people pretending to be university officials, giving it an air of legitimacy.

Two other prospective students named in the complaint paid tuition fees of $10,000 and $15,000, respectively, according to the filing.

In March, a lower court judge dismissed Ravis' lawsuit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The Court of Appeal overturned this judgment and remanded the case.

She cited case law and precedent to answer the question of whether the government, in exercising a sovereign function such as a criminal investigation and prosecution, was entering into an agreement similar to those entered into by private parties.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, stopped operating the fake school in 2019.

ICE has acknowledged that the school was a sting operation and said the eight defendants charged in the investigation conspired to recruit people for what an ICE official described in a 2020 statement as an illegal “pay-to-stay” scam.

Ravi, who has not been charged, enrolled in 2018, hoping to earn a master's degree in information technology, a year before the school was exposed as a bogus, the federal appeals court wrote in its decision.

After the fake school was exposed, Ravi left the United States and returned to India, according to court documents.

Ravis' attorney in the civil lawsuit did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.

The eight people charged in the conspiracy case were accused of trying to illegally help hundreds of foreign citizens stay and work in the United States by enrolling them in what turned out to be the fake ICE school.

They were sentenced in 2020 to prison terms ranging from six months to two years, the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit said at the time.

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