The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on May 12 a major crackdown on fraud involving nearly 10,000 foreign students in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, focusing on highly suspect employers across the country [1, 2]. ICE Director Todd Lyons said these students represent just the top 25 OPT employers and described the situation as "only the tip of the iceberg" [2].
The OPT program allows international students with F-1 visas to work temporarily in jobs directly related to their academic fields. Originally created during the Bush administration and expanded under Obama, OPT was anticipated to have a few thousand participants but grew to hundreds of thousands over time [1, 2]. Lyons warned, "As the program size exploded, so has the fraud" [2].
Investigations by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officers, carried out in the week prior to the announcement, found widespread irregularities at 18 worksites in Texas and other states including Virginia, Georgia, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Florida [1]. Inspectors found empty buildings, locked doors, and multiple employers listing the same address despite no actual leased facility [1, 3, 2]. Immigration attorney Emily Neumann explained, "Empty buildings do get listed as worksites for hundreds of students, where no actual employees ever work" [3].
Several OPT employers appear to be coordinated clusters sharing nearly identical websites and management, with many "phantom employees" who never showed up for work [1, 3, 2]. Some employer officials directed investigators to HR staff located in India and could not answer basic questions about business operations [1, 3, 2].
ICE emphasized that most companies comply with OPT rules, but the crackdown signals heightened enforcement and increased site visits to suspicious employers [3]. The agency continues to investigate and monitor these networks closely [1, 2].
