Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Fox News presenter Kayleigh McEnany posted on X on June 6 that an Indian institution reportedly sold more than &ldquo;36,000 fake degrees&rdquo; to applicants seeking US work visas. The disclosure has prompted renewed scrutiny of credential fraud in India that affects the H-1B program, a work visa that allows American companies to hire skilled foreign workers. According to McEnany&#39;s post, the US Department of Labor has reportedly processed nearly 7 million H-1B visa holders since 2015, with over 70% originating from India. A major investigative report by Bloomberg in July 2024 revealed the scope of the deception. Bloomberg obtained unreleased H-1B petition records from 2020 through 2023 through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, exposing systematic manipulation by Indian IT staffing firms. The investigation found that staffing companies submitted thousands of duplicate applications for the same individuals through shell companies to significantly increase their odds of winning the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (D Visa) lottery. Bloomberg estimated that roughly 15,500 visas (about one in six awarded in a single year) were obtained through this fraudulent scheme. In one instance, a single staffing firm operator used a dozen separate companies to enter the same applicant up to 15 times. The credential-forgery infrastructure supporting this scheme came into public view in December 2025, when police in Kerala, a southern Indian state, arrested 11 suspects and seized nearly 100,000 counterfeit university certificates, according to local news outlets, including Mathrubhumi and Malayala Manorama. The mastermind of the operation, identified as Dhaneesh (alias &quot;Dany&quot;), coordinated document forgery across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. Major national investigations found that forged certificates were sold for approximately $790 to $1,580 each. Mahvash Siddiqui, a US consular officer who reviewed about 51,000 visa applications at the American consulate in Chennai between 2005 and 2007, detailed the fraud mechanism during a Center for Immigration Studies podcast interview. Siddiqui stated that up to 90% of applications from Indian nationals contained fraudulent documents or involved unqualified applicants. In the Indian state of Hyderabad, a major technology hub, Siddiqui explained that visa consultancy shops produced counterfeit degrees, fake transcripts, and forged bank statements on an industrial scale. Applicants submitted Microsoft IT certifications instead of the required computer science degrees to circumvent the requirements. Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Cognizant (India&#39;s largest technology staffing companies) employed workers in the US with fabricated credentials, according to statements from a fraud task force cited by Siddiqui. Indian supervisors at these companies extracted monthly payments of $2,000 to $4,000 from employees earning $12,000 annually to retain their jobs. Job interviews were conducted by qualified proxies rather than by actual applicants, allowing fraudulently hired workers to pass screening. US Department of Justice records show that IT staffing executives at S-Team Software pleaded guilty to submitting fraudulent visa petitions and fabricating job offers and institutional ties to secure approvals. According to Bloomberg, IT staffing firms intentionally paid lower salaries than mainstream American technology companies. Reports from Business Standard, an Indian financial newspaper, detailed how this fraud displaced qualified domestic job candidates. According to Department of Labor data cited by McEnany in a video published on the June 6 post, 83% of H-1B visa holders obtained junior or entry-level positions. The H-1B program officially targets high-skilled positions. A 15-member fraud task force of US consular officers filed an official dissent cable to the State Department, documenting widespread fraud affecting 80% to 90% of H-1B applicants from India, according to Siddiqui. The unit was characterized as a &quot;rogue operation&quot; by consular leadership, citing political pressure from Indian officials demanding increased visa approvals. The Texas Attorney General launched investigations into dozens of companies suspected of maintaining &quot;ghost offices&quot;: fake business locations used to sponsor foreign visas without actual operations. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement flagged 10,000 foreign students linked to shell employer companies under the Optional Practical Training work program, which allows international graduates to work in the United States after completing university degrees. In response, US Citizenship and Immigration Services restructured its H-1B visa lottery system to adopt &quot;beneficiary-centric&quot; selection, allowing each individual exactly one entry regardless of the number of employer registrations. Official USCIS data shows that eligible registrations dropped from 470,342 in fiscal year 2025 to 343,981 in fiscal year 2026, a 26.9% reduction. The average number of registrations per individual fell to 1.01, eliminating duplicate entries. The visa fraud has sent ripples across the world. Australia tightened skilled worker visa protocols, warning that permanent residency can be revoked if applications used forged credentials, according to the country&rsquo;s immigration authorities. Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom have similarly activated credential verification audits, according to immigration tracking reports.

India

US investigations expose systematic credential forgery and employment fraud by major Indian tech consultancies.

How Indian tech companies orchestrate massive H-1B visa fraud in US

Web Desk/AFP

WASHINGTON: A US federal immigration agent shot a man in Minneapolis, city officials said, urging the public to &quot;remain calm&quot; a week after agents shot and killed an American woman in the same city. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O&#39;Hara said the shooting resulted from a struggle in front of a residence between a man and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/who-was-renee-nicole-good-the-woman-killed-by-us-immigration-police" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">ICE</a>) agent on the north side of the city Wednesday evening. &quot;During the struggle, the federal agent discharged his weapon, striking one adult male,&quot; O&#39;Hara told reporters at a press conference. The man suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his leg and was transported to a hospital for treatment, officials said. The shooting marked the second time in a week an ICE agent had shot someone in Minneapolis, with the previous shooting resulting in the death of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good on January 7, sparking ongoing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/anger-over-minneapolis-shooting-probe-fuels-protests" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">protests</a>&nbsp;against the presence of federal agents in the northern US city. &quot;We understand there is anger,&quot; officials wrote on the midwestern city&#39;s X account, adding that &quot;the City of Minneapolis again demands that ICE leave the city and the state immediately.&quot; O&#39;Hara said Wednesday&#39;s shooting generated a crowd of protesters around where it happened, with some throwing fireworks at officers. &#39;This is not sustainable&#39; <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/afghan-national-arrested-near-dc-for-isisk-support-homeland-security" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Department of Homeland Security</a>&nbsp;officials confirmed the shooting in a post on X, saying &quot;an illegal alien from Venezuela&quot; was targeted for a traffic stop and resisted arrest. &quot;While the subject and law enforcement were in a struggle on the ground, two subjects came out of a nearby apartment and also attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle,&quot; DHS said. The officer then &quot;fired a defensive shot to defend his life,&quot; hitting the initial subject in the leg. Elected officials in Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota have decried the actions of Department of Homeland Security agents, including those with ICE. &quot;This is not sustainable,&quot; Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told reporters, adding: &quot;We have ICE agents throughout our city and throughout our state who, along with Border Patrol, are creating chaos.&quot; &quot;This is not the path that we should be on right now in America.&quot; In a video posted to social media earlier Wednesday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz decried &quot;the chaos, disruption and trauma the federal government is raining down on our community,&quot; describing door-to-door interrogations by &quot;armed, masked, undertrained&quot; ICE agents. The Democrat said federal immigration authorities have deployed thousands of agents to Minnesota and were carrying out enforcement operations he said are disrupting communities and affecting residents, including US citizens. Walz described the actions as excessive and politically motivated, criticized the federal government&rsquo;s response to a recent death during an operation, and cited the resignation of several federal prosecutors as raising constitutional concerns. He urged residents to protest peacefully, document enforcement activity, and pursue accountability through the courts and elections, while reaffirming Minnesota&rsquo;s commitment to the rule of law and civil rights. Detention reaches record levels According to the Department of Homeland Security&rsquo;s (DHS) 2025 Year in Review, the administration reported more than 622,000 removals from the United States between Jan. 20, 2025, and late 2025. DHS also said more than 2 million people left the country voluntarily under &ldquo;Project Homecoming,&rdquo; which encouraged self-deportation through incentives and a self-reporting feature on the CBP Home app. It also reported a sharp increase in interior enforcement, including more than 10,000 arrests in the Los Angeles area since June 2025 and more than 4,500 arrests during an operation known as &ldquo;Operation Midway Blitz.&rdquo; In Minnesota, DHS said more than 1,360 people were targeted for arrest detainers during &ldquo;Operation Metro Surge,&rdquo; while a separate initiative, &ldquo;Operation Tidal Wave,&rdquo; resulted in 1,100 arrests in six days. DHS reported arrests this month of individuals it identified as suspected gang members and people with prior violent crime convictions. <figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/b0af2d29-7c8f-44ce-9859-d9c2d15b25ad-deportations.jpg" alt="deportations.jpg" class="fr-fil fr-dib"></figure> Meanwhile, ICE detention data current as of early January 2026 shows the detained population reached a record high of 68,990 people held in 212 facilities nationwide. ICE reported an average of 1,220 arrests per day in December 2025, with the daily rate falling to 315 arrests during the first week of January, which the agency attributed to a seasonal slowdown. ICE said it was monitoring more than 180,000 people through alternatives to detention programs, including a record number using GPS ankle monitors. <img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/f1e21256-56b6-44b7-a02f-9306cc299143-unnamed (1).png" alt="unnamed (1).png" class="fr-fil fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Statistics and Detention Management Reports (2025-2026).</figcaption> Independent analyses from the American Immigration Council said the detention population continued to climb toward 70,000 by mid-January. Data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse shows Texas held the largest number of ICE detainees, with nearly 18,000, followed by Louisiana and California. TRAC also reported ICE expanded its detention network significantly in 2025, using 104 more facilities by the end of the year than at the start, nearly doubling its total capacity.

Americas

The shooting comes amid record ICE detentions of nearly 69,000 people, thousands of arrests nationwide, and rising protests in Minnesota.

Articles tagged with "US immigration"

How Indian tech companies orchestrate massive H-1B visa fraud in US

US ICE agent shoots Venezuelan man amid record immigration enforcement