ICE Identifies Over 10,000 STEM OPT Students Linked to Problematic Employers

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons announced Tuesday that federal investigators have uncovered more than 10,000 foreign students connected to suspect employers in the STEM OPT visa program. Lyons said the cases represent only the tip of the iceberg. He spoke at a news conference detailing findings from a nationwide review of the program.

Homeland Security Investigations officers visited problematic OPT worksite employers in Virginia, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina and Florida. Many of the suspicious OPT employers include nongovernmental organizations. Investigators discovered empty buildings and locked doors at addresses where hundreds of foreign students are allegedly employed.

Hundreds of foreign students are listed as working out of residential addresses. Multiple OPT employers claim to operate from the same address but none actually lease the facility. When someone opens the door, their statements are inconsistent or they claim no knowledge of the business.

Investigators also uncovered phantom employees: foreign students who obtained work authorization through OPT but never showed up for work. Lyons stated that this fraud is deliberate, coordinated and criminal. He added that the fraud is not victimless and is a blatant attack on the goodwill of the American people.

The Department of Homeland Security originally expected only a few thousand foreign students would receive training approval under the OPT program. The STEM OPT program was first created under the Bush administration and expanded under the Obama administration.

Instead, it ballooned into an uncontrolled guest worker pipeline with hundreds of thousands of foreign students currently working in the United States.