> students were aware that the school was fake

Actually - according to the article, prosecutors allege that they were aware of this fact.

However, from the reporting done by the Detroit Free Press (which is the paper of record in metro Detroit), a defense attorney who represented some of the students involved said that ICE even arrested students who realized it was a fraud and tried to transfer out:

> Reddy said, though, that in some cases, students who transferred out from the University of Farmington after realizing they didn't have classes on-site, were still arrested.

This story is far more complex than you're summing it up to be.