WASHINGTON—Trump immigration officials on May 12 revealed findings from a nationwide investigation into a common work program for foreign students, outlining allegations of suspicious work sites, “phantom employees,” financial inconsistencies, and evidence of transnational fraud.

Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told reporters that investigators “have identified over 10,000 foreign students who claim to be working for highly suspect employers.”

The probe by Homeland Security Investigations, which falls under ICE, focused on optional practical training, or OPT.

OPT is a work program for foreigners on student visas that can extend for 12 or even 24 months after graduation. OPT participants frequently transition to the H-1B work visa program. As of 2024, the program had grown to more than 400,000 participants.

While defenders say it helps the United States meet key skilled labor needs, multiple Republican lawmakers have called to change or end the program. In late 2025, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), a critic of the program, that the agency was working to potentially create new rules for OPT.

The initial findings from ICE HSI could galvanize OPT opponents.

On May 12, Lyons told reporters that the more than 10,000 suspiciously employed foreign students his team identified were “just among the top 25 OPT employers.”

He described visits to listed OPT employers in Texas, North Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, Virginia, Illinois, Georgia, and New York.

“We’ve discovered empty buildings and locked doors at addresses where hundreds of students are allegedly employed,” Lyons said, claiming that the program was riddled with redundant, unused addresses and addresses for small residential spaces.

“We have seen suspicious financial transactions moving cash across multiple countries.”

The ICE leader said that investigators had identified alleged “phantom employees”—“foreign students who obtained work authorization documents through OPT but never showed up for work at the sites they claimed.”

John Condon, HSI’s acting associate director, told reporters that his team noticed a similar troubling trend in Texas, where they recently visited 18 OPT work sites.

“One employer we visited claimed to employ only three students through OPT, while our records show over 500 foreign students claiming to work there,” Condon said.

He described networks of OPT employers, accusing them of disobeying the requirements of the program by outsourcing training to third parties.

“Our investigators have discovered questionable financial networks crossing multiple countries involving numerous bank accounts and complex transactions,” Condon said.

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who has introduced legislation to eliminate OPT, told The Epoch Times in an email that the findings “should outrage every American citizen looking for a job.”

“This broken program undermines wages, creates serious enforcement concerns, and puts the interests of multinational corporations ahead of American workers,” he said.