Texas Attorney Debunks F-1 Visa Fraud Claim Against Houston Indian-American Dancer
HOUSTON — A senior federal prosecutor in Texas has publicly rejected a viral social media allegation that Indian-American biomedical engineer and Kuchipudi dancer Sadhana Gollapudi was improperly remaining in the United States on an F-1 student visa, saying she is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Aaron Reitz, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said on X that his office examined the allegation after an account using the name CyberGreen09 accused Gollapudi of being a “forever F1 student” and violating student-visa employment restrictions.
“My office looked. She’s a naturalized US citizen, not here on student visa,” Reitz wrote, according to multiple reports. He added that his office takes visa fraud seriously and prosecutes cases involving immigration fraud.
Reitz has served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas since July 2026 and is the chief federal law enforcement officer for a district that includes Houston. The Justice Department says he took the oath of office on July 9.
The clarification directly contradicted the central claim circulating online. Naturalization is the legal process through which an eligible foreign-born person becomes a U.S. citizen, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. A naturalized citizen therefore is not in the country under F-1 nonimmigrant student status.
Dance video used to make immigration allegation
The controversy began after CyberGreen09 shared a video of Gollapudi performing Kuchipudi and alleged that she had remained an F-1 student since 2014 while undertaking unauthorized work. The account offered the video and information about her academic background as purported support for the claim.
Reports identify Gollapudi as a Houston-based biomedical engineer and Kuchipudi performer. Her public social media profile likewise describes her as a biomedical engineer and Kuchipudi dancer based in Houston.
After the allegations circulated, Gollapudi said her content had been reposted without her permission and described claims being made about her as false and misleading. She asked people who encountered the posts to report them to the social media platform.
The incident also prompted criticism from Indian-American advocacy figures. Reports said some advocates questioned why an unverified social-media accusation had prompted an examination by a federal prosecutor’s office and criticized the public disclosure of Gollapudi’s citizenship status.
Wider concerns over online targeting of Indians
The episode comes amid documented concerns about rising online hostility directed at Indians and other South Asians in the United States.
Stop AAPI Hate reported in 2025 that South Asian communities were encountering increasing levels of racial abuse, xenophobia and threats in online spaces. A separate analysis by the organization found that anti-Asian hate surged online after the 2024 U.S. presidential election, with South Asians among the principal targets.
The Carnegie Endowment’s 2026 Indian American survey has also documented growing concerns about discrimination among Indian Americans.
The Justice Department defines “doxing” as gathering and publishing personal identifying or other sensitive information about someone online. However, publication of personal information is not automatically a federal crime by itself; criminal liability depends on the circumstances and applicable laws, including whether conduct involves threats, stalking, fraud or other prohibited activity.
The FBI advises people who receive threats through social media, email or other electronic communications to preserve the messages and related electronic evidence and notify law enforcement. Immediate threats should be reported to local authorities.
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