NLIHC Joins Letter in Opposition to Misinformation on Fraud in Public Benefit Programs, Urges Organizations to Join
Mar 30, 2026
By NLIHC Policy Team
NLIHC has joined a letter urging members of Congress to stop using misleading rhetoric regarding fraud to justify dismantling access to public benefits. This dismantling has taken the shape of funding cuts, increased requirements for program entry, and the passing of new legislation guided by misinformation suggesting that fraud exists in such programs. In reality, fraud by benefit recipients is not only rare, but rarely deliberate. Mobilizing around fraud and creating barriers to basic needs perpetuates harm both administratively—by removing infrastructure in place to address the U.S.’s affordability crisis and increasing state and local burden—and rhetorically in targeting immigrants as fraudsters. While the letter was initially sent to Congress on March 18, the letter remains open for organizations to co-sign here.
Notably, the letter points out ways the Trump administration has scapegoated immigrants with unsupported allegations of fraud to hinder access to housing programs for all eligible people. The letter states: “The Trump administration has used the guise of ‘exploiting public housing resources’ to seek to separate families and require burdensome paperwork for tenants, including older adults and U.S. citizens, living in federally subsidized housing.” The effort to separate families is reflected in the ongoing HUD proposal to evict mixed-status families (see Memo, 3/23).
The letter – signed by national, state, and local organizations—outlines how:
- Even in circumstances where information is incorrectly filled out by applicants, little distinction is made between making accidental mistakes and intentionally using false information. Moreover, the abuse of government programs largely comes from unscrupulous contractors and powerful individuals, with little initiative taken to hold them accountable.
Misinformation about fraud has been used to justify violent immigration enforcement actions and further efforts to separate families living within federally subsidized housing under the guise of “exploiting public housing resources.” These allegations function in a context where, already, 1) federal health and social services programs have strict eligibility and verification processes and 2) cases involving fraud commonly trigger serious consequences for noncitizens, such as deportation proceedings and ineligibility for legal immigration status.
Creating new barriers to programs such as childcare, rental assistance, and Medicaid detracts from the reality of people’s affordability needs and imposes additional hurdles on families and individuals already struggling to make ends meet. Moreover, these attacks on federal programs burden already under-resourced state and local offices by creating additional bureaucratic hurdles and costs.
Making access to basic needs more complicated and expensive will not prevent fraud.
As the administration continues to weaken government accountability and further benefit cuts, the letter urges Congress to defend public benefit programs while combatting misinformation—actions that can take the form of supporting independent watchdog agencies and opposing funding freezes or legislation rooted in claims of fraud.
The letter was drafted by several organizations, including Caring Across Generations, the Center for Law and Social Policy, Coalition on Human Needs, Community Catalyst, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Justice in Aging, National Immigration Law Center, and NLIHC.
Child Care for Every Family Network, Children Thrive Action Network, Partnership for Basic Needs, and Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition are asking for organizational co-signers here.
Read the letter here.
Add your organization to the letter here.
Learn more about ‘fraud’ legislation like the “Deporting Fraudsters Act of 2026” here.