DHS Announces Crackdown on OPT Fraud

information provided to DHS. Under the Biden administration, the

fraud escalated even further. Today we're announcing

that 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. This is only the tip of the iceberg.

Over the past year, we've dramatically expanded our oversight

of

OPT and can report that we've found fraud

nationwide. HSI agents have visited pro- have visited

problematic OPT employer work sites in Virginia, Texas,

Georgia, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, North

Carolina, and Florida. Many of these employers include NGOs

engaged in suspicious activity. We've discovered empty buildings

and locked doors at 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 found small residential addresses listed as work sites for hundreds of

foreign students, yet no employees were present.

When someone does answer the door, their statements are inconsistent,

or 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 are seeing suspicious financial tractions moving cash across multiple

countries.

We've discovered that numerous businesses fail to maintain

basic employment records

for the foreign students, raising serious tax reporting concerns.

Some employers claim to have offshore human resources and payroll personnel.

And finally, we're finding what we call phantom

employees.

We've identified foreign students who obtain work authorization documents

through

OPT, but never showed up for work at the sites

they claimed.

While we can't share details of ongoing investigations, I can assure you that more

information is forthcoming and that we are taking this fraud very seriously.

With that, I'll turn it over to the acting executive

associate director for

HSI, Mr. John Carmen, who can speak in greater detail. John.

Thank you, Director Lyons. Last week, HSI investigators and compliance

officials conducted site visits at 18 OPT work sites in

North Texas.

Our findings were alarming. We discovered coordinated employer

clusters where

numerous employers in the same building complex are running nearly identical

websites,

sharing job postings and management personnel,

but claiming no business

relationships with each other.

We found shell company schemes where multiple OPT employers

are established by the

same owner/operator, indicating a deliberate scheme to

structure income

and evade taxes.

We have encountered employers who claim only a handful of OPT employees,

despite our records showing that hundreds of students claim to work

there.

To give you an example, one employer we visited claimed to employ

only three

foreign students through OPT, while our records show over 500

foreign students claiming to work there.

The company's representatives were unable to answer basic questions

about the

business and deferred HR managers in India.

OPT employers are required to directly train foreign students, but

we've seen multiple examples of alleged employers claiming that all management is

overseas in India.

We've also discovered multiple state networks where are lar- which are large

networks of alleged employers claiming to train thousands of foreign students in

OPT,

then farming them out to unreported third-party employers, making

oversight nearly impossible and raising serious national security

issues.

And we found potential evidence of international financial fraud.

Our investigators have discovered questionable financial networks crossing

multiple

countries involving numerous bank accounts and complex transactions.

These cases aren't limited by geography.

In Houston, we found an alleged OPT employer accused

of

pay to stay visa fraud who was charging students under the table

to help them fraudulently ta- maintain visa status.

The phony employer had never operated from the listed address, and over 100 foreign

students allegedly employed there were nowhere to be found.

In Georgia, we found an alleged IT company's address

was nothing but a PO

box.

The owner operated a second related company across the street, also

allegedly employing dozens of foreign students.

The location was empty. One of the company's websites was flagged

by DHS firewalls as b- as potential malware, a common marker of

fraudulent OPT employers.

In New Jersey, we discovered an OPT employer who claimed

to employ over

150 foreign students but couldn't answer basic questions about

who they

were or what they were hired to do.

We only encountered one of these students who revealed he had not worked for the

listed company in over a year. He was instead being trained by a company

based in India.

And in a New York condo allegedly housing dozens of foreign students,

a supposed employer became visibly upset and denied any knowledge of the company,

despite DHS records and student reports confirming

otherwise. A foreign student confirmed the individual

was the owner, but could

not explain his denial. HSI will continue to investigate these

cases

among several others. Director Lyons.

Thank you, John.

Let me be clear. Foreign students themselves

are entering false

addresses and employer names into the Student and Exch- Exchange

Visitor Information System.

But we are uncovering evidence of organized fraud that spans national and

international borders. This is not accidental.

It is deliberate, coordinated, and criminal.

DHS will relent- relentlessly investigate, disrupt, and refer for

prosecution anyone who exploits our programs.

We've intensified our vetting at consular posts overseas, targeting

trafficking, forced labor, document fraud, and unauthorized

employment among student visa applicants.

I commend our HSI agents and support staff for their unwavering

commitment to

defending the integrity of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.

This fraud is not victimless. It is a blatant attack on the goodwill of the

American people who generously allow foreign nationals access to our

education system.

If you're an employer or a foreign student engaged in fraud

against the United

States, you are advised to return home or surrender

immediately. The criminal, civil, and immigration consequences

for fraud are severe and unavoidable.

We will not tolerate abuse of our programs, and more actions are

forthcoming. Thank you.