Senator targets OPT

Senator Eric Schmitt is pressing to shut down Optional Practical Training, a federal work program that lets many foreign graduates stay on U.S. payrolls after school. (schmitt.senate.gov) Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on November 14, 2025, calling Optional Practical Training a “cheap-labor pipeline” and “a backdoor into the U.S. job market for foreign workers.” His office said on February 26, 2026 that the Department of Homeland Security had agreed to review and re-evaluate the program. (schmitt.senate.gov 1) (schmitt.senate.gov 2) Optional Practical Training is tied to the F-1 student visa. Federal immigration agencies say eligible graduates can work for up to 12 months after finishing a degree, and students with qualifying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics degrees can apply for a 24-month extension. (uscis.gov) (studyinthestates.dhs.gov) The program is large and still growing. The Student and Exchange Visitor Program said 194,554 Optional Practical Training participants had both work authorization and a reported employer in 2024, up 21.1% from 160,627 in 2023, while 165,524 students were participating in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics extension in 2024. (studyinthestates.dhs.gov) (ice.gov) Schmitt’s argument rests in part on how the program was created. A Congressional Research Service brief says Optional Practical Training was established through regulation rather than a statute passed directly by Congress, and Schmitt says that makes it vulnerable to executive action as well as legislation. (congress.gov) (schmitt.senate.gov) The legal fight over that authority has already been tested in court. In October 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the Homeland Security Department’s authority to set the “time” and “conditions” of student stays in a case brought by the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, and the Supreme Court declined review in October 2023. (law.justia.com) (natlawreview.com) Universities and international education groups are making the opposite case. NAFSA, an association for international educators, says research has found no evidence that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Optional Practical Training reduces job opportunities for U.S. workers, and it points to business-backed studies that projected economic losses if the program were cut back. (nafsa.org) The administration has not announced a final rule to end Optional Practical Training. But Noem’s February 26, 2026 response to Schmitt said the department was reevaluating whether the current framework, including the scope and duration of practical training, serves U.S. labor market, tax, and national security interests and matches congressional intent. (schmitt.senate.gov) That leaves Optional Practical Training in the same place Schmitt targeted: still active, still growing, and now under formal review inside the agency that runs it. (studyinthestates.dhs.gov) (schmitt.senate.gov)