US ICE flags 10,000 foreign students, including Indians, in alleged OPT visa fraud probe

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has identified nearly 10,000 foreign students, including several Indians, for allegedly misusing the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme, with officials claiming the student visa system has become vulnerable to fraud and national security threats.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said the OPT component of the student visa programme had become “a magnet for fraud” and was under multiple investigations by the Department of Homeland Security.

The OPT programme allows international students studying in the United States on student visas to work for up to 12 months after graduation, or 24 months in certain fields, and often serves as a pathway to employer-sponsored H-1B visas.

“We’ve encountered cases involving espionage, biological threats, intellectual property theft, visa and employment fraud, and even scams targeting elderly Americans, all perpetrated by individuals abusing their status as students,” Lyons said.

“Our nation will not tolerate security threats originating from the foreign student programme,” he added.

Federal officials said investigators conducted site visits and uncovered alleged irregularities, including cases where OPT beneficiaries were reportedly supervised by employees based in India, which authorities said violated programme rules requiring training and oversight to occur within the United States.

Lyons criticised the expansion of OPT, saying the programme, introduced during the administration of George W. Bush, was originally designed for a limited number of foreign students seeking temporary work experience before returning home.

“Instead, OPT ballooned into an uncontrolled guest worker pipeline with hundreds of thousands of foreign students working in the United States. As the programme’s size has exploded, so has the fraud,” he said.

He described the alleged misuse of the system as “a blatant attack on the goodwill of the American people, who generously allow foreign nationals access to their education system.”