The University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ) was a fake university created and maintained by the United States Department of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2016 to investigate student visa fraud. It claimed to be based in Cranford, New Jersey, with plans to expand to Harrison, Hoboken, and Morristown. Background The UNNJ sting operation took place following several high-profile student visa fraud cases involving phony universities, most notably Tri-Valley University in Northern California, an institution that offered classes but did not require students to attend. History of the sting operation The operation was created in September 2013 by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a directorate of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The fake university had an extensive internet presence, including an elaborate website with a .edu domain name, a crest (bearing a remarkable similarity to that of Princeton University) with a Latin motto, and a Facebook presence led by the university's "president"—a "carefully crafted character" named Dr. Steven Brunetti who had a LinkedIn page. The sting included a fictitious campus at 25 Commerce Drive, Cranford, New Jersey. At the end of the operation, the rented space at 25 Commerce Drive was vacated and the website went down. The fake university was recognized by the State of New Jersey and was accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC). The director of the ACCSC stated that it had accredited the "university" to cooperate with the federal investigation. In April 2016, Paul J. Fishman, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, and Sarah R. Saldaña, the director of ICE, announced that the sting operation had ended with the arrests of 21 people. Federal agents posed as university officials and worked with the 21 arrested individuals, who were brokers who recruited international students, mostly from China and India, to go to UNNJ. According to federal authorities, the brokers knew that UNNJ did not offer real classes yet "charged the students in a scheme that allowed them to maintain their student visas and stay in the country" and in some cases illegally arranged for jobs and work visas. According to Saldaña, the brokers arranged student visas for 1,076 people, most of whom will have their visas revoked. The authorities described the brokers as engaging in illicit "pay to stay" visa scam. Effects The New York Times reported that, "in interviews, more than a dozen students insisted that they were