DHS Surprise Checks Show Mass Fraud in OPT Migration Program

Markwayne Mullin’s Department of Homeland Security is exposing fraud throughout the huge Optional Practical Training (OPT) program that feeds many white-collar migrants into the careers sought by U.S. graduates.

“We have identified over 10,000 foreign students who claim to be working for highly suspect employers, and that’s just among the top 25 OPT employers,” said Todd Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, which oversees the OPT program.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” he added, without taking questions at a press conference on Tuesday morning.

In 2024, the program issued more than 400,000 work permits to foreign students and graduates at U.S colleges — even though Congress never approved or even debated the corporate giveaway created by President George W. Bush.

The DHS inspections of the fraud-ridden, never-authorized, corporate giveaway OPT program are a good sign, said Mark Krikorian, director of the