SANTA ANA, Calif. - A California man was charged Monday with operating a ring of illegal test-takers who helped dozens of Middle Eastern nationals obtain U.S. student visas by passing various proficiency and college-placement exams for them, federal authorities said.
The allegations reveal a potentially dangerous security breach in the country's student-visa system and underscored the vulnerability of a tracking process that relies on schools and testing centers to verify the identities of people taking the mandated exams.
Eamonn Daniel Higgins, 46, of Laguna Niguel made an appearance in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana on one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud as federal immigration agents arrested 16 of his suspected clients who remained in Southern California. A judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
In one case, a blond woman working for Higgins was allowed to take an exam using a fake ID that paired her photo with a man's Arabic name, said Debra Parker, acting deputy special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles.
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Authorities have not said any of the clients were engaged in terrorist activity and have yet to determine their motives for hiring Higgins.
Still, the investigation has alarmed immigration authorities, Parker said.
"Visa fraud is always a concern but their motive is definitely something that all of the participating agencies will be taking a very, very close look at over the next few weeks," she said. "It's pretty sophisticated and it's very impressive."
Six of Higgins' alleged clients face criminal charges, while the remaining students face deportation proceedings, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for ICE. Ten additional students were not arrested but will be questioned by agents in the ongoing investigation, Kice said.
A federal magistrate allowed Higgins to go free on $5,000 bail. His public defender, Elizabeth Macias, declined to comment.
Authorities alleged that over a seven-year period, Higgins collected tens of thousands of dollars from foreign students from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Kuwait, Turkey and Qatar before he or his accomplices took their exams at 10 Southern California community colleges and universities using doctored IDs.
Higgins charged as much as $1,500 per student per exam for passing grades on English proficiency exams, writing assessments, English and math college-placement tests, final exams and other college coursework the students needed to obtain their F-1 student visas or to stay current on the visas, authorities said.
E-mails discovered during the investigation indicated Higgins also attended classes for his clients. One e-mail exchange with a Saudi Arabian student named Mohammed Ali Alnuaim showed Alnuaim and several others were charged a total of more than $34,000 to have others take a full course load for them, according to a court affidavit.
U.S. colleges and universities began using a specialized tracking system for foreign students after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but the current investigation exposed an unexpected loophole, Parker said.
