Chuck Grassley, one of Iowa’s US senators since 1981, has sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem calling on the department to stop issuing work authorizations to student visa holders in direct violation of the law.
Grassley also emphasized how foreign student work authorizations put America at risk of technological and corporate espionage, citing more than 33,000 current Chinese student visa holders with STEM work authorizations.
Foreign students holding F-1 study visas are allowed to gain work experience in US companies after completing their studies, through the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program.
The OPT program is under fire as many lawmakers have raised objections to it and are calling to terminate the optional training program.
Senator Chuck Grassley
In his X post, Senator Chuck Grassley writes, “DHS needs 2 stop issuing work authorizations 2 student visa holders who compete against Americans. It’s in direct violation of law & puts USA at risk of tech and corporate espionage I sent a letter 2 DHS Scty Noem asking her to end work authorizations 4 foreign student visa holders.”
The OPT program is being criticized for enabling US companies to hire F-1 students at lower wages, which limits job opportunities for American workers.
“Competition from foreign graduates is contributing to rising unemployment rates among college-educated Americans. This should not be the case. Congress placed caps on employment visas for foreign graduates to ensure that American jobs are filled by American graduates. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), however, is issuing hundreds of thousands of work authorizations to student visa holders in direct violation of the law,” Grassley wrote.
In a speech on the Senate floor in March, Grassley called on Noem to stop issuing work authorizations to foreign students. In his letter, Grassley said his office has reached out directly to DHS about the issue several times.
Grassley’s letter written to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on September 23 concludes, “If your reply to this letter does not contain a commitment to ending work authorizations for student visa holders, then I expect a detailed explanation of what legal authority DHS is relying on to issue these authorizations, and whether the Department has reevaluated that authority in light of the Supreme Court’s recent rulings on the major questions doctrine and administrative deference.”
Representative Paul A. Gosar
Representative Paul A. Gosar had recently introduced the ‘Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act,’ legislation that aims to terminate the Optional Practical Training (OPT) Program administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service.
In his legislation, Gosar writes, “Never authorized by Congress, OPT circumvents the H-1B visa cap set by Congress by allowing over 100,000 aliens admitted into our country on student visas to continue working in the United States for another three years after completing their academic studies.”
FICA Taxes
In response to X’s post of Chuck Grassley, other Americans are also calling to end the OPT program. One such post reads – “Please end OPT as it puts American students at a disadvantage compared to foreign students, who can be hired more cheaply by employers due to FICA tax exemptions for five years. This situation has negatively impacted American graduates.”
The Dignity Act, sponsored by US politicians, proposes levying Social Security and Medicare taxes on the earnings of international students participating in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program in America. The Dignity Act proposes taxing OPT students’ earnings by making them pay FICA (Social Security and Medicare) taxes.