Hawkeye Reporter

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to stop issuing work authorizations to student visa holders. Grassley claims that these actions are in direct violation of U.S. law and could pose risks related to technological and corporate espionage.

Grassley’s letter highlights concerns about the impact of foreign graduates on employment opportunities for Americans with college degrees. He references findings from the Federal Reserve indicating that unemployment rates for males aged 22 to 27 are similar regardless of whether they hold a degree, and that recent American graduates with STEM majors face higher unemployment than the general population.

“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.

He further states: “DHS even allows foreign graduates to stay in the United States on their student visas for years after graduation in order to work. These work authorizations are incompatible with the Immigration and Nationality Act, which clearly states a student visa is ‘solely’ for the purpose of pursuing an education, not employment.”

Grassley raises security concerns related to foreign students working in sensitive technology positions. “In addition to harming American job seekers, foreign student work authorizations also put our nation at risk of technological and corporate espionage,” he said. “For example, over 33,000 Chinese student visa holders have STEM work authorizations that allow them to work in sensitive tech positions. The FBI has warned that China is engaging in the ‘systematic theft of intellectual property’ by targeting businesses and academic institutions, and the USCIS ombudsman has found that foreign student work authorizations are ‘currently being used by government actors from countries such as the [People’s Republic of China] as a means of conducting espionage and technology transfer.’”

Grassley noted that he had previously addressed this issue in a Senate floor speech in March and stated his office had reached out directly to DHS several times regarding these concerns.

“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,” Grassley concluded.

The full text of Senator Grassley's letter is available online.