Congressman Riley Moore urges DHS to end OPT, STEM OPT, and CPT programs.
Republican Congressman Riley M. Moore wrote to new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullen to end the OPT, STEM-OPT, and CPT programs to save jobs for American graduates. He’s not the first to raise the request amid the H-1B controversy, but he has detailed how these programs that allow foreign students to enter the workforce make a mockery of Congress’ original intent.
“At a time when recent graduates are entering one of the most challenging labor markets in modern history, it is alarming that companies and universities continue to exploit nonimmigrant worker programs that replace American workers with foreign labor,” the congressman said.“For a year, Big Tech lobbyists quietly worked with previous administrations to turn “hands-on” programs into back-end pipelines for cheap foreign labor.
They are even urging the Department of Homeland Security to secretly rewrite OPT regulations to deliberately avoid the H-1B caps imposed by Congress. “This regulatory ploy not only makes a mockery of Congress’s clear intent for the student visa program, but it also gives powerful corporations exactly what they want: an unlimited supply of low-wage, tax-advantaged workers to displace American talent,” Reilly wrote.
What is OPT, OPT extension and CPT?
OPT (Optional Practical Training) is a temporary work permit for F-1 students in the United States that allows students to work in a job related to their studies to gain work experience.
It has a validity of 12 months.STEM students receive a one-year extension of their optional 24-month practical training.CPT (Systematic Practical Training) is a work permit that is part of an academic programme. Unlike Optional Practical Training (OPT), this can only be done during the course. This is approved by the university and many choose it when their stay in the United States ends.These programs are a great deal for international students to get hands-on training, but over time they have become a bridge between temporary student visas and long-term H-1B status, Riley Moore said.“Since 1947, government programs have been in place to provide foreign students with opportunities for short, internship-like experiences. But in 1992, the Bush administration quietly shifted those programs to the modern Occupied Palestinian Territory, allowing foreigners to stay in the United States and work for a full year,” Moore said, explaining how the programs evolved.“By 2007, the H-1B visa cap was limiting Microsoft’s access to cheap foreign labor. At a dinner party in 2007, a Microsoft lobbyist suggested to DHS Secretary Chertoff that the H-1B problem could be circumvented by extending the duration of the OPT. It worked. The 2008 Chertoff rule extended STEM fields for 17 months without any public notice or congressional approval. After nearly 8 years later, the Obama administration once again extended the Occupied Palestinian Territories, bringing the total time foreigners can remain in America after graduation to 36 months,” he said, adding that nearly 450,000 foreigners hold jobs that should belong to Americans.“Big tech companies like this arrangement. Foreigners accept lower wages. They can’t move jobs or demand a promotion. Almost every one of them is exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes, saving billions,” he added.