The story broke just before Christmas. The Times of Indiareported that Air India was refusing to fly international students with visas to attend two California institutions, Northwestern Polytechnic and Silicon Valley Universities. The airline said it had been informed by U.S. government officials that the two universities were under "scrutiny" and that it wanted to spare students the "inconvenience" of having to immediately purchase a return ticket home.
"In the past, we have witnessed that students who secured admission in those institutions have been deported to India as soon as they land there," an airline official told the paper.
The Indian government got involved, issuing a statement on Dec. 23 advising students headed to the two institutions to defer their travel and another, on Dec. 30, clarifying that the California universities had not been "blacklisted" but that the decision to deny some students entry to the U.S. was based on immigration authorities’ assessments of individual travelers. Both Northwestern Polytechnic and Silicon Valley Universities are certified to enroll international students by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/01/04/reports-indian-students-being-turned-away-border-cast-spotlight-two-little-known