US senator flags H-1B and OPT abuse

A top Republican senator raised concerns over alleged abuse of employment-based visa programmes, including the H-1B system and Optional Practical Training (OPT), prompting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to confirm that it is reviewing the student work programme.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Senator Eric Schmitt argued that the H-1B visa programme was increasingly being misused in ways that could disadvantage American workers.

“For those listening, the H-1B programme was marketed as a programme to bring in the best and the brightest for jobs that we don’t have people for,” Schmitt said.

“What’s happening is this abuse, is that American citizens are being displaced by cheaper, more obedient foreign labour.”

Schmitt also criticised the Optional Practical Training programme, which allows foreign students studying in the United States to work after completing their education.

He said the programme had effectively become “visa mills for universities taking away opportunities for American students because they don’t have to pay taxes on the foreign labour for at least a year if you have this visa for OPT.”

According to the senator, the programme has seen widespread misuse.

“The abuse has been pretty rampant,” Schmitt said.

Schmitt told the committee that he had written to the Department of Homeland Security about both programmes and asked the agency to review the scope and duration of OPT.

Responding during the hearing, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed that the department had begun such a review.

“Yes, we are. We’re continuing to do that review now, and it will be completed here in 2026,” Noem said.

Schmitt asked whether the department would commit to completing the reevaluation within the year.

“Yes, we are. We’re continuing to do that review now, and it will be completed here in 2026,” Noem replied.

The exchange came during a wide-ranging hearing focused primarily on immigration enforcement, border security, and oversight of the Department of Homeland Security.

Lawmakers questioned Noem on several aspects of immigration policy, including deportations, detention practices, and national security concerns.

The discussion on H-1B visas and the OPT programme was one of the few portions of the hearing that addressed legal immigration pathways rather than enforcement actions against undocumented migrants.

The Department of Homeland Security oversees immigration compliance and visa programmes through agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and US Citizenship and Immigration Services.