Indian Ambassador to US expresses confidence that MEA will have access to all detained Indian students by today

Washington, February 4: The Indian Ambassador to the US, Harsh Vardhan Shringla has expressed confidence that officials of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) will have access to all detained Indian students in the country by today.

 

The students were detained by US authorities in connection with their enrollment in a fraudulent university.

Shringla assured that the weight of the government of India is behind the detained students. He said the MEA is concerned that so many Indian students have been implicated in the issue regarding the University of Farmington in Michigan.

The diplomat said, the students have been advised about various legal options and they can also ask for access to lawyers. He also said each of their five Consulates in the US has identified a nodal officer who could be contacted for any issue in the situation. Shringla said the government has instructed that the issue should be handled with the highest priority.

India on Saturday had issued a demarche to the US Embassy in Delhi over the detention.

The main concern of the External Affairs Ministry is the dignity and well-being of the detained students and the need for immediate consular access for Indian officials to the detainees were reiterated.

On this issues steps taken by Ministry includes, visiting several detention centers throughout the U.S. to extend consular assistance to detained students, being touch with the representatives of the Indian community and their associations to gather more information about detainees, for legal help provision of guidance and assistance, and assistance from the Indian community has also been mobilized to provide legal support to those who seek

Ministry underlined that students, who may have been duped into enrolling in the ‘University’ should be treated differently from those recruiters who have duped them. Ministry urged the U.S. side to share full details and regular updates of the students with the Government, to release them from detention at the earliest and not to resort to deportation against their will.

On this demarche, American Embassy replied, “We can confirm that the Embassy received a demarche from Ministry of External Affairs about Indian citizens detained in the United States this week”.

The government of India and the Indian Embassy and Consulates in the United States attach the highest priority to the welfare of the detained students and will continue to work with the U.S. authorities and other stakeholders to address the issue.