The ministry of external affairs said on Tuesday that it is closely following reports of Indian students admitted to two United States universities being deported. The ministry said that it has strongly taken up the matter with the US government and aims to resolve it at the earliest, reported ANI.

The statement from the ministry came after reports emerged of 14 Indian students admitted to the Silicon Valley University in San Jose and Northwestern Polytechnic University in Fremont being deported by the US. The two universities are allegedly under scrutiny of American authorities.

On Monday, 19 students were stopped from boarding an Air India flight to San Francisco from Hyderabad’s Shamshabad airport. Since December 19, around 50 students with valid visas and flight tickets have not been allowed to board the airline’s flight to San Francisco. The national carrier justified its move saying the US customs agency informed them that the two universities were blacklisted.

The external affairs ministry confirmed that Air India had acted on the advice of the US authorities.