ICE drops ‘uncontrolled’ fraud bombshell involving thousands of foreign students, ‘phantom employees’

Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons announced that federal investigators have uncovered more than 10,000 foreign students connected to "suspect employers" as part of another potentially massive fraud scheme, this time involving the federal STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) extension program.

At a news conference Tuesday, Lyons said the cases uncovered thus far are "just the tip of the iceberg."

OPT is a U.S. immigration program that lets international...