House Republicans are raising concerns about organized criminal groups in the United States allegedly recruiting illegal immigrants to participate in staged accidents and fake injuries, all to exploit the country’s personal injury system for financial gain, according to Breitbart. In a letter led by Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) and addressed to Attorney General Pam Bondi, the lawmakers highlighted the dangers and costs associated with these fraudulent operations.
“These fraudulent schemes pose serious risks to public safety, increase consumer costs, and raise insurance premiums for the motoring public,” the Republicans wrote. “According to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, insurance fraud costs the U.S. $308 billion annually, with $45 billion attributable to property and casualty insurance fraud. More importantly, these activities put innocent motorists at risk of injury or even death.”
The letter referenced a major case in Louisiana, where a criminal network staged car accidents involving commercial trucks. This operation led to federal indictments for 63 people, including attorneys who were allegedly involved in the scheme.
According to the lawmakers, illegal immigrants are sometimes drawn into these scams as a way to pay back “coyotes”—smugglers who helped them cross the border. They pointed to several cases where plaintiffs reportedly used funds from litigation loans and workers’ compensation claims to settle debts owed to human traffickers.
One example cited involved Angel Peralta Ordonez, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, who filed for workers’ compensation just two months after arriving in the United States. He later admitted that he used $15,000 from litigation loans and $6,000 from workers’ compensation to pay off a $21,000 smuggling debt.
Additional media reports, such as those from the New York Post, suggest that gangs like MS-13 and Russian criminal organizations are behind some of these fraudulent injury claims, sometimes even coercing migrants into unnecessary surgeries to boost the value of lawsuit settlements.
In response, the group of Republican lawmakers is urging Attorney General Bondi to establish a special task force within the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute these personal injury fraud schemes. The letter was also signed by Reps. Lance Gooden (R-TX), Tony Wied (R-WI), Tom Barrett (R-MI), Glenn Grothman (R-WI), Tom Tiffany (R-WI), and Jimmy Patronis (R-FL).