Every month, American families watch their insurance premiums climb higher while their paychecks stay flat. (Sound familiar?) From auto coverage to homeowner’s policies, the costs keep rising with no end in sight. What most hardworking Americans don’t realize is that they’re unknowingly funding a sophisticated scheme that’s adding thousands of dollars to their annual expenses.

The culprit isn’t inflation or corporate greed—though they certainly aren’t helping. It’s a brazen exploitation of our legal system that connects border crossings to courtroom payouts. And the bill is landing squarely on the shoulders of law-abiding citizens who play by the rules.

From ‘Just the News’:
So what we’re seeing in a lot of major cities across the country, places like New York, Los Angeles, other places, is folks are coming across the border illegally, and then, in order to go ahead and pay back those that brought them here, a/k/a their coyotes, they’re working with billboard [advertising] attorneys to stage accidents. These accidents could be workplace accidents. They could be car accidents. There’s a variety of different methods that they use, but once the accident is staged, they then work with the billboard attorneys to take out loans that honestly are often at astronomical rates, to then pay back their coyotes and get their lawsuits started.

A Pipeline From Border to Courtroom

Lauren Zelt revealed this jaw-dropping scheme to Just the News. Here’s how the racket works: illegal immigrants arrive carrying massive debts to smugglers, typically $15,000 to $25,000. Unable to pay through legitimate work, they’re recruited by personal injury law firms advertising specifically to “undocumented workers.” These firms help them secure high-interest loans against future lawsuit settlements, creating a perverse incentive to inflate or even fabricate injury claims.

Consider Angel Peralta Ordonez—yes, that’s his real name from actual court documents. He crossed the border in September 2022 and immediately owed $21,000 to his coyote. Within weeks of arriving, he claimed injury at a New York construction site and retained the Ginarte Law Firm, which helped him secure three separate loans totaling $15,000. Court documents show he used this money to pay “the debt that I had when I came.”

Criminal Networks Cash In

The scheme has attracted darker elements. The New York Post reported that MS-13 affiliates and Russian mobsters are now exploiting migrants in elaborate injury scams, sometimes pressuring victims into unnecessary spinal surgeries to inflate settlements. (Let that sink in for a moment.) In one shocking case, Guatemalan immigrant Julio Cesar Puac underwent six surgeries after a simple slip-and-fall—none for his actually injured wrist. His lawyers claimed disabilities ranging from torn ligaments to spinal damage, all mysteriously discovered only after meeting with attorneys.

Insurance companies are fighting back with RICO lawsuits, alleging organized racketeering conspiracies between law firms and medical providers. But even when they win, defending these cases generates costs that get passed straight to consumers. John Bartow, a New York insurance broker, told Legal Newsline he sees massive labor law claims weekly. “It’s become a vicious cycle of increase on top of increase,” he said. “Your average contractor isn’t going to accept a price increase, they’re going to pass it on to the consumer.”

The financial impact is staggering. According to Protecting American Consumers Together, lawsuit abuse costs the average American family approximately $4,200 per year. That’s real money that could go toward groceries, gas, or saving for retirement—instead, it’s funding a shadow economy built on exploiting our legal system’s generosity.

With the Trump administration’s renewed focus on border security and the rule of law, there’s hope for addressing this crisis at its roots. But until state legislatures reform laws like New York’s Scaffold Law that enable these schemes, American families will continue paying this hidden tax. It’s time for citizens to demand accountability from their representatives—because every premium increase represents another family struggling to make ends meet while others game the system. But hey, at least the lawyers are getting rich, right?

Key Takeaways

• Illegal immigrants are staging accidents to secure loans for coyote debts
• This lawsuit abuse costs American families $4,200 annually in higher premiums
• MS-13 and Russian mobsters have infiltrated the personal injury racket
• New York’s Scaffold Law enables billion-dollar fraudulent settlements

Sources: Just The News