The Leader’s Floor Lookout: Week of March 16, 2026

From California to Minnesota, we’ve seen widespread fraud across America, particularly in Democrat-led states. The Trump Administration and House Republicans have been working to crack down on fraud, protect American taxpayer-funded benefits, and hold those responsible accountable.

Illegal immigrants have repeatedly defrauded the United States and taken advantage of benefit programs at the expense of the American taxpayer. Last year, several illegal immigrants were convicted in a fraud scheme scamming the elderly for millions of dollars. A few months later, another illegal alien from Nigeria was also sentenced for operating a nationwide fraud ring targeting the elderly and other vulnerable populations – again, for millions of dollars.

Despite the harm caused by fraud to hardworking and vulnerable Americans, certain fraudulent acts do not always result in an illegal immigrant being deemed inadmissible or removable from the United States. Currently, the Immigration and Nationality Act does not explicitly define fraud against the United States as a deportable offense, potentially leaving aliens who commit fraud as still eligible for immigration relief and benefits like asylum that let them stay in the U.S. indefinitely. 

It should be common sense: if an illegal alien is exploiting our resources and stealing from Americans in need by defrauding the government, they should be removed from our country and never allowed to return. 

House Republicans are bringing forward legislation that ensures criminal illegal aliens that commit fraud are held accountable to the People and permanently removed from the United States. 

Rep. Dave Taylor’s legislation, H.R. 1958, the Deporting Fraudsters Act of 2026, amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make illegal aliens who commit federal fraud or unlawfully receive public benefits inadmissible and removable from the United States, protecting federal programs from exploitation and defending taxpayer dollars.

American taxpayers deserve better – House Republicans are fighting to ensure illegal aliens who shouldn’t be here in the first place are held accountable if they commit fraud.

Dogs and horses serve as critical assets in federal law enforcement and immigration operations. Horses are often helpful partners for crowd control, event security, securing rugged areas along the border that vehicles cannot access, and ceremonial duties, while dogs excel at scanning passengers and cargo to detect things like drugs, foreign animal disease, and harmful plant pests, preventing such threats from entering our country. 

Unfortunately, along with the severe and concerning rise of attacks on federal law enforcement officers – assaults against ICE agents have risen by over 1,300 percent – have come attacks on their animal partners. 

In June 2025, a five-year-old beagle and Customs and Border Patrol detector dog named Freddie was violently kicked by an Egyptian national arriving at Dulles International Airport from Cairo after Freddie alerted authorities to the man’s suitcases, which contained prohibited agricultural products. Freddie sustained injuries and was unable to return to work for two weeks.

Similarly, during the violent riots against ICE in Los Angeles that same month, two protesters assaulted L.A. County Sheriff’s Department horses by repeatedly pushing a horse, hitting the horse’s muzzle, pulling on a horse's reins, and pulling on another horse's bridle.

These animals should be respected and protected, not cruelly abused. House Republicans are bringing forward legislation to ensure that any foreign national that assaults a law enforcement animal like Freddie is inadmissible and removable from our country. 

H.R. 4638, the Federal Working Animal Protection Act, introduced by Rep. Ken Calvert, creates a ground of inadmissibility and a ground of deportability explicitly for aliens who harm law enforcement animals to prevent animal abusers from entering the U.S. and streamline their removal from our nation.

Will Democrats join us and vote to deport illegal aliens who abuse animals, or will they stand by and vote to allow these criminals to remain in America?

Each year, hunters and fishers contribute over a billion dollars to conservation funding through excise taxes on recreational hunting and fishing equipment like tackle and ammunition – the most cost-effective options being lead ammunition and fishing tackle. 

The raw material alternatives to lead tackle and ammo are significantly more expensive: in 2021, the National Shooting Sports Foundation found that lead-free hunting ammunition is on average 24.66 percent more expensive than lead ammunition, and non-lead fishing tackle like tungsten tackle is up to ten times more expensive than lead fishing tackle.

Despite the substantially higher financial burden, the Biden Administration’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed banning the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle on federal land – increasing costs on sportsmen and women and potentially resulting in a significant decrease in hunting and fishing participation.

A ban like this would affect millions of Americans who use traditional lead ammunition and tackle, as well as put wildlife conservation funding sources at risk. 

Sportsmen and women know what it means to sustainably utilize America’s natural resources and great outdoors so that our lands are left in better condition than before. Banning lead ammunition and tackle and making it harder for Americans’ to responsibly enjoy outdoor recreation will do nothing to help conserve our lands: it will only prevent conservationists who can’t afford to spend more on ammo or tackle from continuing healthy recreational use of our federal lands.

H.R. 556, the Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act, introduced by Rep. Rob Wittman, stops the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Forest Service from banning lead ammunition or tackle on federal lands and waters for hunting and fishing.

House Republicans are defending Americans’ access to recreation from burdensome and counterproductive regulations.