US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has found over 10,000 potential fraud cases involving a program that permits foreign students to prolong their stay in the United States after graduating from college by claiming work employment. The federal investigation into the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program revealed that thousands of foreign students have been claiming to work at businesses with fraud indicators, many of which are non-governmental organizations (NGOs) engaged in “suspicious activity,” said ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons during a Tuesday press conference.

OPT permits foreign nationals to work in the United States for 12 or, in certain situations, 24 months after entering the country on a student visa. Additionally, the program enables students to switch to an employer-sponsored H-1B visa, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) website.

“Our nation will not tolerate security threats originating from the foreign student programs,” said ICE Director Lyons. “Today, we are announcing that we have identified over 10,000 foreign students who claim to be working for highly suspect employers.”

“Many of these employers include NGOs engaged in suspicious activity,” Lyons continued. “We’ve discovered empty buildings, locked doors, and addresses where hundreds of foreign students are allegedly employed. In many cases, multiple OPT employers claim to operate from the same address, but none actually lease the facility.”

“We’ve found small residential addresses listed as worksites for hundreds of foreign students, yet no employees were present,” said Lyons. “When someone does answer the door, their statements are inconsistent, where they claim no knowledge of the business. We’re also seeing financial red flags. Many alleged employers display clear fraud indicators, including tax liens, civil lawsuits, collections, and breaches of contract. And we have seen suspicious financial transactions, moving cash across multiple countries.”

ICE Director Lyons said that numerous probed businesses failed to maintain basic employment records for the foreign students, raising “serious tax reporting concerns.” Additionally, some of the employers claim to have offshore Human Resources (HR) and payroll personnel.

“We’re finding what we call ‘phantom employees,'” explained Lyons, adding that investigators have “identified foreign students who have obtained work authorization documents through OPT but never showed up for work at the sites they claimed.”

OPT has been targeted by the Trump administration since 2025. USCIS chief Joseph Edlow previously informed lawmakers that he would seek to terminate the program, which is not protected by federal law.

The OPT investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), both of which operate under ICE. ICE Director Lyons said that the recent findings were just the “tip of the iceberg.” The investigation follows the Trump administration’s nationwide crackdown on fraud.