Ever since the tri-valley “sham” broke out, ATA has been working actively with Legal experts to provide the necessary legal guidance and needed support to the affected students. ATA President Dr.Rajender Jinna and Community Chair Bangar Reddy also made representation to various US Senators & Congressmen to provide details and request their immediate attention to resolve the matter promptly and provide students a viable option to transfer to other universities. ATA is also is in constant contact with the Indian Consulate General offices in various Cities and also to approach Indian Ambassador to put pressure on US to resolve the matter in the interests of students who are the victims of this scam".
ATA is working with Dallas law firm Akula & Associates that assisted in providing answers to questions of over 600 students of Tri Valley University who are currently in F1 status and who have been affected by the ICE investigation. Lawyers also talked with several ICE officers who detained the students to arrange for Bonds and get them released from detention centers around the country. They also guided several students who are in removal proceedings. They are currently in contact with several courts to arrange bond reduction hearings for still detained students. A conference call was hosted by the lawyers on 27th January, 2010 at 3 PM CST to address the issues of the students on this crisis. Over 300 students attended and benefited from this conference call. You may reach Raj Akula at 972-241-4698 by phone or by email at [email protected].
Bangar Reddy, ATA Community Services Chair said "It's unfortunate that Indian students in Tri-Valley are mistreated by U.S. immigration authorities. Indian students have become victims of recent scam by Tri-Valley University. The students are from the respectable families in India; never committed any crime and they have high respect and dream to study in USA. News reports indicate that the students are mistreated with "radio collars" tied to their ankles to monitor their movements. Students should not be treated as illegal immigrants who are innocent victims of the scam and they were not aware of irregularities by the University. ATA strongly condemns such acts of mistreatment on Indian students.
The mistreatment on Indian students would strain US-India relationships and will have huge negative impact on Students who are willing to pursue Higher Education in USA; Non-Immigrant professionals who are working in USA and Off-Shore IT Resource to India". In addition to above law firm, ATA is also working with JanethaLaw.com in providing needed legal assistance to students.
ATA Secretary Ram Mohan Reddy Konda and ATA member Babu Gummadi have been in constant touch with the Tri valley students and directing the affected students by guiding them in the right direction.
In view of this and other past incidents, ATA would like to appeal to international students, especially Telugu students to do their due diligence before taking any decision on University admissions by checking information about University like accreditation, history, student enrollment, student body, complaints, etc. ATA (American Telugu Association) is an established non-profit organization serving Telugu community in North America and India for over 25 years. For more details about ATA and its humanitarian services to Telugu community, please visit ATA website at http://www.ataworld.org.
