Cleveland State University delays delivering immigration, work authorization and citizenship records of its new Asian Indian interim provost

CLEVELAND, OH – On April 26, 2022 Cleveland State University’s (CSU) board released information to the media announcing the replacement of its chief executive officer, Harlan Sands, with provost Laura Bloomberg EJBNEWS had editorialized for Sands’ and law school dean Lee Fisher’s termination in February 2022.

The CSU board appointed Asian Indian alien Nigamanth Sridhar to the position Bloomberg left as “interim” provost during its administrative shakeup.  He had been on leave of absence with the National Science Foundation since 2020.

The provost is CSU’s senior academic administrator.  It places Sridhar in the role of senior vice president over managing academic faculty at a tax supported state university whose staff and student body is becoming increasingly foreign.  Americans pay state and federal tax dollars to employ our citizens as educators to educate our nation’s children.

CSU is located in Cleveland where over 50 percent of the inhabitants are American Negro citizens who don’t appear among the university’s engineering graduating class. Some of the students are obviously foreign. The question for 11th Congressional District citizens is how many foreigners instead of Americans are being educated at a state university on our state and federal tax dollars?  How many of the foreigners are remaining, unlawfully, in the USA looking for work past their return home dates and stealing jobs?

EJBNEWS electronically forwarded a public records request to CSU’s “chief counsel” on April 29 seeking a copy of Sands separation agreement, Bloomberg’s contract and Nigamanth’s personnel records. Among the requested public records sought should have been those that verified Nigamanth’s immigration and citizenship status; and federal authorization to work.

Section 3344.60 of the Ohio Adminstrative Code required CSU officials to conduct background screening to learn if and to ensure that all applicable federal laws had been met in hiring and promoting Sridhar.  EJBNEWS cited section 149.43 of the Ohio Revised Code as the authorizing state law that granted access to the public records.

Though I chose to leave my name and make the request in writing as the author of the request, the state law doesn’t require a requestor to leave their name, submit a written request or to identify the reason for their desire to review or obtain public records.  CSU has a duty to maintain public information in a manner that allows a requestor to visit its offices during normal business hours and review or receive copies.  When EJBNEWS requested the documents on April 29, 2022, Sands’ separation agreement had already been made available to other media outlets.  CSU’s legal counsel was “prompt” in delivering public records to other media outlets but not with EJBNEWS.

It took a second demand on May 17, 2022 to receive Sands’ separation agreement 19 days later.  According to the unnamed response from the office of CSU’s chief legal counsel, attorney Sonali Wilson, the Bloomberg contract and Sridhar personnel records were being reviewed.

Ex-Mayor Frank Jackson and his predecessors appointed individuals Cleveland voters would not have elected to serve on their school board. Nigamanth Sridhar – who may or may not be a legal citizen of the USA – was appointed to the Cleveland Municipal School District in July 2021.

A biography associated with the Indian alien identifies him as a citizen of India who arrived here in 1999 to earn a doctorate in computer science from Ohio State University.  Sridhar obtained a master of science degree from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science in Pilani, India in 1997.  The school was established in 1964.

F1 and M1 student visas authorize citizens of other nations to remain in ours for the “duration of status” of their “full” course work.  Foreign students are supposed to be economically self-sustaining for the duration of their studies. It takes between 4 and 6 years for students with full time jobs to complete a doctorate.  Foreign students like Sridhar are supposed to be full-time so the duration of their “in country” time is shorter.   Student visas expire in three years. They’re allowed to remain without extensions until their course work is completed.

Shyamala Gopolan, the late mother of Vice President Kamaladevi Harris, played the “forever a student” game and ultimately stopped interacting with immigration officials after she was scheduled for a deportation hearing in 1968 for “visa fraud.”  Federal immigration officials then were on the lookout for alien students lying on federal documents to remain, unlawfully, in our nation.

Under “hardship” circumstances foreign students can work on campus if the work is specifically related to their studies.  Foreign students are not permitted to work off campus without a written request and permission from DHS to be employed and obtain a social security number.

As a citizen of India Sridhar’s student visa, if he obtained one, came with a departure date.  Sridhar could not have violated any federal, state or local laws, especially any immigration laws, if he wanted to change his immigration status in order to obtain an H1B “work” visa.  It’s a temporary green card with a 3-year expiration or “leave America” date.

This is a dated example of an F1 student visa that identifies an expiration date. When foreign students complete their studies they are required to leave the USA.

What his Linked In page shows is the Indian citizen graduated with a doctorate in computer science from Ohio State University around 2004; and applied and was accepted for employment at CSU in 2004  instead of returning to India.  To hire a citizen of India in 2004 federal laws required CSU to certify to the following two attestations to DHS on federal forms.

  • There are insufficient available, qualified, and willing U.S. workers to fill the position being offered at the prevailing wage
  • Hiring a foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers

The “change of status” was supposed to have been requested by Sridhar from DHS in writing before he sought “off campus” work from CSU on his very restricted student visa; and 365 days before the expiration date.  The state college was required to affirm that no Americans were available, qualified and willing to work for the jobs he held at each level of his climb up CSU’s administrative ladder.  They were also supposed to validate his written request and written DHS approval dates.  Sridhar had mandatory duties to provide them with his validating documents.

The HIB visa graphic explains itself.

If Sridhar obtained an H1B visa prior to working for CSU it expired in 2007.  He could get a 3-year extension if the state university’s officials attested on federal forms that no Americans –  not even those who had graduated with Sridhar from OSU – were qualified to teach computer science.

After his 3-year H1B visa expired, Sridhar was authorized to one 3-year extension and then one “single” year extension.  Afterwards he was supposed to return to India.  The longest period he was authorized to work for CSU under an H1B visa would have been until 2011.

With each of the two extensions, and with each promotion upwards, CSU’s officials were required to attest on federal forms that no American was as qualified as Sridhar to teach computer sciences or serve as a dean.  CSU would have no legal authority, unless he had been granted “permanent resident” status, to keep Sridhar working, being promoted and building an Ohio taxpayer funded pension for the next 11 years.  In 2020 CSU allowed him to take a “leave of absence” to work for the federally-funded National Science Foundation.

There are very limited circumstances for when foreign students can remain in the USA and work if they’re granted an H1B visa that comes with a six year expiration date.  This form I-140 would have to been submitted to United States Customs & Immigration Services and approved before Nigamanth Sridhar was hired by CSU.

If USCIS granted him an M1 visa, Sridhar had 60 days to return to India after his coursework was completed in 2004. An F1 visa would have given him 30 days to leave our borders and return to India.  Unless he had been prior-approved to remain in America, Sridhar had no choice but to return to India and apply through the United States Embassy there for an H1B work visa or permanent resident status.

Without pre-approved written authorization to stay, Sridhar would have made himself ineligible to be hired by CSU, or to apply for permanent residence, by remaining and then working in our nation without it as an immigration criminal. He would have also needed “prior” DHS permission to seek off campus work and receive a social security card under his student visa.

Congress has enacted Title 8 of the United States Code, Section 1324b under the heading, “Unfair immigration-related employment practices.”  Preferential employment is mandated for two classes of Americans.  Those who are citizens or nationals; and those who are lawfully admitted aliens.  Every employer – including those in Chinatown or the city’s foreign owned businesses – without exception is required by laws enacted by the United States Congress to complete a form that verifies the eligibility of workers to work in the United States of America.

Nigamanth Sridhar posted on his social media page that he and his immigrant wife voted as “citizens” in last year’s primary election. CSU officials after 29 days have not delivered EJBNEWS the public records which affirm Sridhar’s citizenship as their employee; and also as a member of the Cleveland Board of Education. If Sridhar “registered” to vote and was not a US citizen, the same with his wife, then the two immigrants committed criminal acts.

The federal work authorization form is identified as an I9, Employment Verification Eligibility.  The federal document applies to citizens, nationals and non-citizens; and is completed by the employee who is required to “attest” to their eligibility to work.

As an example, the Indian owners of Miles Market at East 131st and Miles Road must have I-9’s and attestations that no Americans wanted jobs as cashiers at the store’s checkout counters to hire all Indians.  Americans wanting the jobs have the authority to report the owners to DHS.  Municipal police have the authority to enforce federal criminal laws that pertain to immigration and aliens pursuant to Section 737.11 of the Ohio Revised Code. Cleveland police under Mayor Justin Bibb are too busy chasing Americans who ride dirt bikes with the unlawful assistance of the Ohio Highway Patrol.

It violates Title 8, Section 1324a of the United States Code for employers to hire workers who are not citizens or lawfully admitted aliens.  Protected class citizens, nationals and lawfully admitted aliens have rights to challenge and file complaints against employers hiring H-1B or green card workers who have to leave within 6 years.  Locally the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and DHS are the enforcement authorities.

CSU is authorized to sponsor foreign workers pursuant to Section 3344-60-03 of the Ohio Administrative Code, but only with the permission of DHS.  Since the state authorizes CSU to receive federal funds there are references throughout Section 3344 of the Ohio Administrative Code that its officials are to obey federal laws.  Part of the records EJBNEWS wants to review are those associated with the “mandatory” duties CSU officials were required to perform  in order to hire an Indian alien.  Did they fully comply with every federal law requirement to the letter of the law?

According to records on file with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, Sridhar appears to now be claiming that he’s a citizen,  Sridhar has been voting as a Democrat from precinct 15M since November 8, 2016.  Since then he’s voted in 10 federal, state or local elections.  Aliens here with student visas and work visas have no voting rights.  It’s a criminal offense for Sridhar to have cast votes in federal elections if he was not a citizen.  Under Ohio law a non-citizen cannot register to vote.

Sridhar’s first election vote was “absentee” in 2016 during the federal election cycle.  Half his votes have been absentee. The year President Donald Trump encouraged Americans to challenge illegal voters at the polls in 2020 Sridhar voted absentee.  Sridhar also voted absentee in last year’s federal primary election for Congress in the 11th Congressional District.

Green card holders are not “citizens” and are restricted from voting in federal elections. It’s an offense punishable by jail and deportation. Ohio’s election laws restrict voting to “citizens.” A “permanent resident” is not a citizen. There are a trail of federal records CSU is required to maintain which affirm that both they and Nigamanth Sridhar complied with federal immigration laws since 2004 that EJBNEWS wants DHS, Ohio’s Auditor of State, Attorney General and the US Attorney for the northern district of Ohio to investigate.

CSU is a university created by the Ohio General Assembly and the laws controlling how its governed are found in Section 3344 of the Ohio Administrative Code.  It’s records, including email, are public and only Sridhar’s social security number and those of his dependents can be redacted.  None of the records or documents EJBNEWS seeks is exempted from disclosure under state laws.  CSU’s hiring policies are found at Section 3344.60 of the Ohio Administrative Code.

Sridhar last July 2020 was appointed to a seat on the Cleveland Municipal School District’s board of education by former Mayor Frank Jackson.  He was confirmed by a Cleveland city council former councilmember Kevin Kelley presided over as president.  Cleveland is one of the American cities that calls itself a “sanctuary” for illegal aliens.  It suggests that no city hall official bothered to confirm that Sridhar was legally authorized to assume the public office.

In 1947 President Harry Truman allowed 24,000 foreign students access to an education in our colleges and universities.  Today the annual number under President Joseph Biden and Indian alien  Harris exceeds 1.7 million.

53 percent of Case Western Reserve University’s (CWRU) 2024 graduating class is foreign and last year generated an investigation of its foreign deals by the United States Department of Education.  Former CWRU president Barbara Snyder was asked to identify the foreign dollars associated with the 200 agreements she’d entered with 40 foreign governments.  One of her contracts included educating Saudi Arabian instead of Americans in dentistry.

It is up to Sridhar to maintain all of the requests he’s submitted and approvals he’s received from federal immigration authorities to arrive, study, be employed, vote and now hold public office in the United States of America. It is up to CSU officials to have asked him to deliver the records to them before he was hired.  The same with the mayor and council of Cleveland.  Hiring an undocumented worker, or one working with fraudulent documents, is a “federal” criminal offense.

As of May 24, 2022, CSU officials have still not delivered the public records EJBNEWS sought on April 29, 2022.  Ohio’s open records law requires that they be delivered “promptly.” Prompt for records that are supposed to be maintained in a manner that the public can walk into the office and inspect them during regular business hours is not 26 days.

Either Sridhar and CSU obeyed federal immigration laws or they didn’t. EJBNEWS seeks to affirm that its officials either obeyed or disobeyed federal immigration laws.

Eric Jonathan Brewer

Cleveland's most influential journalist and East Cleveland's most successful mayor is an East Saint Louis, Illinois native whose father led the city's petition drive in 1969 to elect the first black mayor in 1971. Eric is an old-school investigative reporter whose 40-year body of editorial work has been demonstrably effective. No local journalist is feared or respected more.

Trained in newspaper publishing by the legendary Call & Post Publisher William Otis Walker in 1978 when it was the nation's 5th largest Black-owned publication, Eric has published and edited 13 local, regional and statewide publications across Ohio. Adding to his publishing and reporting resume is Eric's career in government. Eric served as the city's highest paid part-time Special Assistant to ex-Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White. He served as Chief of Staff to ex-East Cleveland Mayor Emmanuel Onunwor; and Chief of Communications to the late George James in his capacity as the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority's first Black executive director. Eric was appointed to serve as a member of the state's Financial Planning & Supervision Commission to guide the East Cleveland school district out of fiscal emergency and $20 million deficit. Former U.S. HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson told Eric in his D.C. office he was the only mayor in the nation simultaneously-managing a municipal block grant program. Eric wrote the city's $2.2 million Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant application. A HUD Inspector General audit of his management of the block grant program resulted in "zero" audit findings.

As a newspaper publisher, Eric has used his insider's detailed knowledge of government and his publications to lead the FBI and state prosecutors to investigations that resulted in criminal prosecutions of well-known elected officials in Ohio; and have helped realign Cleveland's political landscape with the defeat of candidates and issues he's exposed. Eric's stories led to the indictments of the late Governor George Voinovich's brother, Paul Voinovich of the V Group, and four associates. He asked the FBI to investigate the mayor he'd served as chief of staff for public corruption; and testified in three federal trials for the prosecution. He forced former Cuyahoga County Coroner Dr. Elizabeth Balraj to admit her investigations of police killings were fraudulent; and to issue notices to local police that her investigators would control police killing investigations. Eric's current work has resulted in Cuyahoga County Judge John Russo accepting the criminal complaint he guided an activist to file against 24 civil rights-violating police officers in the city he once led for operating without valid peace officer credentials. USA Today reporters picked up on Eric's police credentials reporting from his social media page and made it national.

Eric is the author of of his first book, "Fight Police License Plate Spying," which examines the FBI and local police misuse of the National Crime Information Center criminal records history database. An accomplished trumpet player and singer whose friendship with Duke Fakir of the Four Tops resulted in his singing the show's closing song, "Can't Help Myself": Curtis Sliwa of New York's Guardian Angels counts Eric among his founding chapter leaders from the early 1980's role as an Ohio organizer of over 300 volunteer crime fighters in Cleveland, Columbus and Youngstown, Ohio. For his work as a young man Eric was recognized by Cleveland's Urban League as it's 1983 Young Man of the Year.

Known in Cleveland for his encyclopedic knowledge of government and history, and intimately-connected with the region's players, every local major media outlet in Cleveland has picked up on one of Eric's stories since 1979. There is no mainstream newspaper, television or radio outlet in Cleveland that does not include an interview with Eric Jonathan Brewer in its archives over the past 40 years.

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