Telemundo was the only major television network to cover a federal sting operation against student visa racketeering, along with a Border Patrol effort that prevented 102 undocumented immigrants from crossing the Río Grande.
The visa fraud involved more than 1,000 foreign nationals, seeking to obtain student visas. The alleged conspirators were all Chinese and Indian, located in California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York. Two of them were charged with H-1B visa fraud.
JOSE DIAZ-BALART, ANCHOR, TELEMUNDO: 21 people have been arrested for committing fraud with student visas, a case that involves more than 1,000 foreigners. Federal authorities created a false university in New Jersey as part of a covert operation, and it was this way that they were able to catch the suspects, that gave money in exchange for helping the alleged students remain in the country, and in other cases, to find work.
Telemundo’s newscast also reported on a raid that caught 102 undocumented immigrants trying to cross the Río Grande into the United States.
Univision’s rival newscast, meanwhile, ignored both stories but did report on the Border Patrol finding the bodies of people who have attempted to cross over to the United States, and that help is needed to identify them. Univision’s story also mentioned that human trafficking in the area is not decreasing, with the Border Patrol finding abandoned inflatable vessels used to cross over.
In 2014, an ABC News investigation revealed that federal immigration agencies lost track of more than 6,000 foreigners that came into the U.S on student visas. That same investigation also found that there are schools around the country that are suspected of serving as “visa mills.”
Below is the transcript of the cited report, which aired during the April 5th edition of Noticias Telemundo:
NOTICIERO TELEMUNDO
4/5/16
6:45:07 PM – 6:45:30 PM EST | 23 SEC
JOSE DIAZ-BALART, ANCHOR, TELEMUNDO: 21 people have been arrested for committing fraud with student visas, a case that involves more than 1,000 foreigners. Federal authorities created a false university in New Jersey as part of a covert operation, and it was this way that they were able to catch the suspects, that gave money in exchange for helping the alleged students remain in the country, and in other cases, to find work.
