McCaskill Bill Cracks Down on Sham Universities, Illegal Immigration

Following recent news reports exposing instances of student visa fraud through ‘sham universities,’ U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill is sponsoring legislation that would further crackdown on participants and institutions. Specifically, the legislation would put in place criminal punishment for officers of educational institutions that knowingly attempt to receive certification to participate in the student visa program as a means to commit fraud. If passed, the bill would punish violators with up to 15 years in prison, financial penalties, or both. “‘Sham universities’ pose a serious threat to our nation’s security. For too long these institutions have played the system and gotten away with it,” McCaskill said. “This bill puts a stop to this harmful practice.” Last week, McCaskill announced an investigation into instances of fraud and abuse within the Student Exchange and Visitor Program (SEVP). The bad actors in SEVP not only put a stain on all of the schools that operate in an ethical manner, but also threaten our national security, by potentially allowing the admittance of those not seeking an education but instead looking to enter the country by any “legal” means. McCaskill called on the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security to conduct an investigation into these instances of student visa fraud and uncover how such schools were able to legally issue student visas. Additionally, McCaskill asked the inspector general to look into the current process for schools to become certified in the SEVP and how to improve the procedures to ensure that ‘sham universities’ will no longer be allowed by the Departments of State and Homeland Security to provide admittance into the United States. In 2010, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Los Angeles revealed that two schools claiming to provide English-language education were in fact front operations designed to get student visas for prostitutes from Russia, along with other ineligible foreigners. Several other examples of ‘sham universities’ have been investigated in San Francisco and Florida. No similar situations have been identified in Missouri yet. McCaskill believes enforcing the immigrations laws currently on the books should be the first step towards fixing our broken immigration system. She has fought for tougher crackdowns on employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers and some progress has been made as penalties for such employers have risen dramatically since 2007. Last year, McCaskill also passed a deficit-neutral law to provide $600 million in funding for additional border patrol agents and unmanned aerial surveillance to secure the southwest border.