Report: Over 6,000 on Student Visas Missing

ABC News chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross reported that the U.S. government is investigating the whereabouts of over 6,000 individuals with student visas who have disappeared on Monday’s “ABC World News Tonight.” 

“As of today, U.S. authorities are investigating the whereabouts of more than 6,000 foreign nationals who arrived in the U.S. on student visas, and have vanished, their intentions unknown” Ross reported.

Peter Edge, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official who oversees the investigations into visa violations told ABC that the violators have “virtually” disappeared, and “could be doing anything.” And “some of them could be here to do us harm.”

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), described the visa program as a “mess” to ABC, and stated “we know we have a lot of non-accredited universities that are using this system to bring people in, collect money, and not educate them at all.”

Ross also reported that beauty, massage, and horseshoeing schools are listed as accredited schools that students can receive visas to attend.  He added that one school, MicroPower Career Institute, is allowed to facilitate visas despite having multiple officials under indictment for visa fraud.

Ross concluded by reporting that “more than a third” of U.S. flight schools that accept foreign students have not been certified by the FAA.

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