Feds: Calif. man ran student visa fraud ring

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Feds: Calif. man ran student visa fraud ring

By GILLIAN FLACCUS (AP) – 1 hour ago

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.

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 behalf of Higgins.

The allegations revealed a potentially dangerous security breach in the country's student visa system and underscored the vulnerability of a tracking process that relies on schools to verify the identities of people taking the mandated exams.

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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