Another case of entrapment, Creating a situation that creates bad people and then arresting them, should this be legal?
I don't think so. And if it is proven that some of the people arrested had no previous criminal record, then the Federal Agents had brought out the badness in those people and that is not right.
And what's the aim? Catching criminals? Don't be lazy do it the old fashion way. Creating criminal situations to catch bad/immoral people? Maybe some of the people arrested, even if they have a criminal past, have managed to turn their lives around in the right direction and then the Agents tempted them with "a too easy to let this pass by" criminal situation!
Dangling this kind of bad-carrots will always catch criminals plus some borderline people. And it is these borderline people that makes entrapment really and thoroughly wrong. The State should be helping people on the borderline to get better not worse! ...which is why I always fume at entrapment cases :angry:
Catch the bad people when they do bad things on their own! Don't create bad people. Don't make people do bad things with your fake stuff!
Reminds me of the Reality TV show "bait car"
The agents' recorded conversations with the defendants showed that the practice of paying to extend visas had been going on for years, prosecutors said.
In this case then the Agents shouldn't be lazy, Investigate the suspected criminals the old fashion way and arrest them.
With the US Federal Agents doing this, then I guess it's a case of who will referee the referees
can't help being grumpy...
Just need to let some steam out, so my head doesn't explode...
Not entrapment, no -- creating the opportunity for people to self-elect to commit crimes isn't entrapment.
That said, I'm wary of abuses of entrapment and general police abuses and believe law enforcement should be held to the highest scrutiny.
Furthermore in this specific situation, extending one's visa fraudulently is a victimless (or borderline so) crime, and even justly "entraping" the party who holds less power does not especially invoke the best of what police work should be -- In my opinion, if the police are running stings on anybody they ought to be running them on these sham schools offering these services for real. People on Visa to any country not their own are often there for opportunities that may be wildly better than anything they could hope for back home, and in those cases it hardly makes them criminals for wanting better for awhile longer. You can make a solid argument that the harm caused is depressed wages for everyone, but to that I would say we should address the problems that visa workers are essentially taken advantage off by paying them lower wages compared to native workers -- remove the incentive from the hirers, give visa workers more money while they are here, and create an even playing field for native workers of like skill.
They say they aren't prosecuting them. This seems more like a test to analyze and research the actual problem, so they can better target the "actual criminals" as you put it.
It seems your real beef is with existing immigration laws.
I think it's arguably "not OK" for two reasons, although it certainly is, and should be legal (note that "legal" and "OK" is not necessarily the same).
Is it legal for Federal Agents to do such things? Quite obviously. Is it "OK" and should they do it? Again, well, yes... you want them to arrest criminals. Criminals are a threat to you and everybody else, and to the state as such.
Even on so-called victim-less crimes, there is always a victim. Robbing a bank is a victim-less crime. Tax fraud is a victim-less crime. But someone is going to pay for the loss. Banks have insurance, you say? Well guess who pays the insurance, you and your neighbour and everybody else.
Now, is it "OK" in this case? I'm inclined to say "no". Why?
The first reason is that the overwhelming majority of people who wishes to go to university in the USA indeed needs to pay big $$$, so it is not at all unimaginable that the perpetrators indeed thought that they were paying for some kind of university of sorts. Might as well be a university they've never heard of, or might as well be a perfectly legal loophole. Might as well be one of those "study at home" universities, who knows.
Also, although that isn't really an excuse, in Asia -- the article says it was mostly Asians -- although not truly legal, it is perfectly normal and not even frowned upon to pay for "things". Some 16-17 years ago when I needed my work permit extended in Vietnam, it was not possible since 4 weeks is the maximum allowable. With a 20 dollar bill in your passport, getting 6 months is no problem. You get your visum a lot faster, too (30 seconds rather than 6 weeks). You may think lowly of that, but for an Asian, that's just the "fee" you need to pay.
So even if they didn't believe that the fake university was real, they might have thought "Oh well, that's just the inofficial stay-here fee". This doesn't make it right, illegal is still illegal. But it somehow helps to understand where they might be coming from.
The second, and more urgent reason why it's not "OK" is that this set-up targets the wrong kind of foreigners.
There's "good" foreigners, and "bad" foreigners. While it's "OK" to target the bad ones, it is wrong (and a really, really dumb mistake) to target the good ones.
The "good" foreigners try to get a visum/permit and try to keep it, they try to find a job, and most of them work a lot harder than you do, or they do things you wouldn't want to do. They earn money and they pay taxes and social insurance. That's the same taxes that are used to build streets in your town, and the same social insurance that you may need one day. Heck, there is nothing wrong with these people. Please send more of that kind!
On the other hand, there's foreigners who rob and steal, and who kill or injure people. They don't pay tax or insurance, they only ever take, never give back. You want those people gone (yes, there are people like this who aren't foreigners, too... but the problem is you can't get rid of them because nobody will take them!).
Unluckily, the "bad" ones are not the ones who will apply for a visum/permit, and they are not the ones who will go into your fake university trap.
Which renders the whole thing absurd, you are punishing the ones who try to do everything right, the ones that you absolutely want to keep.
so it is not at all unimaginable that the perpetrators indeed thought that they were paying for some kind of university of sorts
Article says that they knew it was a fake university.
The second, and more urgent reason why it's not "OK" is that this set-up targets the wrong kind of foreigners.
It doesn't say that they targeted any foreigners Asian or otherwise. It says "The defendants acted as brokers for more than 1,000 foreigners". They actually arrested people who were running a service where foreigners who want to get into the united states illegally pay them and then they offer advice and services to make it easier. This can range from getting them a place at a fake university to ranging fake marriages. It doesn't say what nationality the defendants were but, I'm guessing they are US citizens.
The article is poorly worded by the BBC but, what it boils down to is that the Feds set up the fake website to catch companies and individuals who were known to be running scams to get people illegal US Visas. The foreigners who applied to the fake university are not the ones being prosecuted or arrested. The 21 people who advised over 1000 foreigners to apply to the university are the ones who have been arrested.
Which renders the whole thing absurd, you are punishing the ones who try to do everything right, the ones that you absolutely want to keep.
No they are not. The people they are punishing are criminals who are only one step above being people smugglers.
