A new bill introduced by Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner aims to use the money seized from drug cartels to fund the construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall. As noted by the lawmaker, this would serve as a sensible solution instead of passing off the expenses of building the wall to American tax payers.
In 2016 alone, the Department of Justice was able to seize a total of $1.7 billion from drug cartels operating in Mexico. However, has already been allocated for law enforcement agencies in the U.S., according to the Washington Times.
But, through the bill, the U.S. government will be able to use the other drug cartel assets to fund the wall. One possible source that Trump’s administration can turn to is the assets seized from notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, also known as El Chapo.
Following his arrest in Sinaloa in 2016, El Chapo was extradited to the U.S. earlier this year to face criminal charges related to his cartel. In total the department of justice was able to seize $14 billion of El Chapo’s drug-related assets.
This amount can easily cover the cost of building President Donald Trump’s proposed wall, which was projected to range from $12 to $15 billion.
Sourcing the funds from seized assets is certainly a viable solution than the other proposed programs, such as enforcing a 20 percent import tax to Mexico. Although using Mexico’s tax revenues is still a good idea, this will also affect the American people since the prices of goods coming from Mexico will increase.
As noted by Sensenbrenner, building the wall is one of the government’s top priorities as it will prevent Mexican immigrants from illegally entering the U.S. to take away job opportunities and other state-allotted benefits that are meant for citizens. Hopefully, the GOP lawmaker’s bill will be implemented soon.
