US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Aaron Reitz, came to an Indian-origin woman’s rescue this week after a viral post accused her of committing student visa fraud in the United States. The American attorney, who served as the Assistant Attorney General for Donald Trump-led Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy last year, has since dismissed those allegations and confirmed that the individual targeted by MAGA supporters online is, in fact, a US citizen.
Indian-origin biomedical engineer targeted for false visa fraud claims
In a late July tweet, a social media account on X (@CyberGreen09), which has long displayed a streak of sharing and re-posting anti-Indian rhetoric online, targeted Sadhana Gollapudi, a woman of South Asian descent. Sharing a video of her performing an Indian classical dance form, the SNS page accused her of exhibiting the “forever F1 student” status since 2014.
The F-1 category of non-immigrant visas is issued to international students attending full-time academic or language programs at SEVP-certified (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) US colleges and universities.
The X post, which has since garnered over three million views online, not only slandered the traditional dance form, but also claimed that Sadhana has “played the student visa case” for 12 years by “enrolling in multiple programs.” It further accused the woman of working “as a dancer and cash tutor, violating her visa.”
According to Sadhana’s Instagram profile, she is currently based in Houston and is a biomedical engineer who regularly posts Kuchipudi dance videos.
US attorney refutes student visa fraud claims against Indian-origin woman
After looking into the woman’s case, US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Aaron Reitz, dismissed the allegations raised in the viral social media post.
Thanks for flagging. My office looked. She’s a naturalized US citizen, not here on student visa.
— U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz (@USAttyReitz) August 4, 2026
As US Atty over Houston, I take visa fraud seriously. We prosecute it to the fullest. Neither illegal aliens nor those who obtain legal status illegally are welcome on American soil.
“Thanks for flagging. My office looked. She’s a naturalized US citizen, not here on a student visa,” he wrote on X, responding to the original viral tweet that triggered more anti-Indian hate comments. “As US Atty over Houston, I take visa fraud seriously. We prosecute it to the fullest. Neither illegal aliens nor those who obtain legal status illegally are welcome on American soil.”
Even as Reitz confirmed Sadhana’s status as an American citizen, the Indian diaspora in the United States couldn’t help but note the incriminating jargon used by the US attorney.
The Indian American Advocacy Council called out Reitz online, saying, “An American woman was filmed, named and falsely branded a ‘visa fraudster’ before millions. The office of @USAttyReitz , U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, confirmed the allegation was false: she is a naturalized American citizen. Yet rather than condemn the person who publicly smeared her, Reitz used her exoneration to rant about ‘illegal aliens’ and who is ‘welcome on American soil.'”
The South Asian-origin community asserted, “She is not a guest. She is not a suspect. She is an American.”
The advocacy group further demanded the person behind the original accusatory viral post delete the allegation, issue a retraction and apology. Even extending a helping hand out to the woman targeted in the video, the Indian American Advocacy Council wrote, “Naturalised Americans are not second-class citizens, and publicly destroying someone’s reputation with a reckless lie must have consequences. You do not have to fight this alone.”
Suhag A Shukla, the Executive Director of the Hindu American Foundation, similarly countered Reitz’s response.
“Dear @USAttyReitz: You actually responded to a racist/hateful post by a Pakistani actor stan account and investigated a US citizen performing classical Indian dance in front of her house,” she said on X. “Did I miss the part where you apologized for investigating an innocent citizen & pledged to prosecute this clear attempt to doxx and target an American under Texas Penal Code § 37.08 (making a false allegation to your office)?”
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