Welcome back to the show after a holiday weekend. It's now December. I'm told KiwiCo makes

things that you could get people in the month of December. Their projects that help your

kids or even adults learn about science, math, art, engineering, technology. KiwiCo is

offering you the chance to get your first month for free to redeem the offer. Go to KiwiCo.com

slash explained.

So imagine that you're a foreign student perhaps from India and you're looking for a program

in the US that's focused on business or STEM, also known as science, technology, engineering

and math. And you come across an ad for a university in Michigan called the University of

Farmington. The brochure looks great. It says it's located in the heart of the automotive

and advanced manufacturing center of southeast Michigan. The University of Farmington provides

students from throughout the world a unique educational experience. Our dynamic business

administration and STEM curriculum allows students to rapidly apply their knowledge, preparing

them to succeed in an ever globalizing economy. The school is accredited, which means that

it's a legitimate program that would qualify you for an F1 student visa that allows you

to study and remain in the US. You apply, you get your visa, that's great. And you'll

pay costs to the university, maybe 2500 per quarter for graduate programs plus and at

average $1000 a month in fees. You're ready to go. But then one day you get an knock on

your door. It's US immigration and customs enforcement, ice. And you find out that the

whole thing's fake. The university doesn't actually exist. It has no curriculum, no classes.

It's all just been a scheme to weed out fraud. And now you might be deported.

Nicole Nareya, you cover immigration at Vox. What exactly went down at the imaginary

University of Farmington in Detroit?

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