Illegal aliens are being recruited to join sophisticated criminal networks in the United States that stage accidents and injuries to get payouts through the nation’s personal injury system, House Republicans told Attorney General Pam Bondi.
In a letter led by Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), the group of Republicans warned Bondi that personal injury fraud is a growing industry in the U.S. that requires immediate attention from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“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.”
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In particular, the Republicans noted that a criminal ring operating in Louisiana, staging vehicle accidents with commercial trucks, resulted in 63 individuals — including plaintiff attorneys — getting indicted as part of the federal probe into the scheme.
The Republicans said illegal aliens are also cashing in:
It also appears that illegal immigrants are being recruited as part of these schemes, sometimes as a requirement to repay coyotes who helped them cross the border. Numerous cases highlight the intersection of illegal immigration and alleged abuse of the personal injury system, with some plaintiffs reportedly using litigation loans and workers’ compensation payments to repay debts owed to human smugglers. [Emphasis added]
For example, in February 2023, Angel Peralta Ordonez, an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador, filed a workers’ compensation claim just two months after arriving in the U.S., later admitting in deposition that he used $15,000 in litigation loans and $6,000 from workers’ compensation payments to settle a $21,000 smuggling debt. Additional reports, such as those from the New York Post, allege that MS-13 gang members and Russian criminal networks orchestrate fraudulent injury claims, pressuring migrants into unnecessary surgeries to inflate lawsuit settlements. [Emphasis added]
The Republicans urged Bondi to form a task force in the DOJ dedicated to investigating and prosecuting such personal injury fraud schemes.
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) signed the letter.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
