Trump Policy Specifics #1 – Compelling Mexico to Pay for the Wall
“Compelling Mexico to Pay for the Wall” is item number 1 on Trump’s Web Site “positions” tab. I’ve stripped out some irrelevant material and left the rube-goldbergian machinations that Trump is going to use to get the Mexican Government to pay $5-10 billion for the construction of a border wall. Basically he is going to use some powers given to the President under the Patriot Act to threaten to stop wire transfers from the US to Mexico. The threat alone will bring Mexico to heal. Cinchy.
- Introduction: The provision of the Patriot Act, Section 326 – the “know your customer” provision, compelling financial institutions to demand identity documents before opening accounts or conducting financial transactions is a fundamental element of the outline below. That section authorized the executive branch to issue detailed regulations on the subject, found at 31 CFR 130.120-121.
- On day 1 promulgate a “proposed rule” (regulation) amending 31 CFR 130.121 to redefine applicable financial institutions to include money transfer companies like Western Union, and redefine “account” to include wire transfers. Also include in the proposed rule a requirement that no alien may wire money outside of the United States unless the alien first provides a document establishing his lawful presence in the United States.
- On day 2 Mexico will immediately protest. They receive approximately $24 billion a year in remittances from Mexican nationals working in the United States. The majority of that amount comes from illegal aliens. It serves as de facto welfare for poor families in Mexico. There is no significant social safety net provided by the state in Mexico.
- On day 3 tell Mexico that if the Mexican government will contribute the funds needed to the United States to pay for the wall, the Trump Administration will not promulgate the final rule, and the regulation will not go into effect.
- Visa fees: Even a small increase in visa fees would pay for the wall. This includes fees on border crossing cards, of which more than 1 million are issued a year. The border-crossing card is also one of the greatest sources of illegal immigration into the United States, via overstays. Mexico is also the single largest recipient of U.S. green cards, which confer a path to U.S. citizenship. Again, we have the leverage so Mexico will back down.
Conclusion: Mexico has taken advantage of us in another way as well: gangs, drug traffickers and cartels have freely exploited our open borders and committed vast numbers of crimes inside the United States. The United States has borne the extraordinary daily cost of this criminal activity, including the cost of trials and incarcerations. Not to mention the even greater human cost. We have the moral high ground here, and all the leverage. It is time we use it in order to Make America Great Again.
I eagerly await DD changing the civil war graphic at the top to Hillary v. Trump, with just Jason on the Trump side.
I am shocked. SHOCKED that levying huge fines on companies hiring illegal immigrants isn’t on the list.
Hilarious Liberalgeek. It is merely admiration. Just as you might not like Blue Grass music, but you can appreciate when it is being played well.
I wonder why Trump would want to build a wall, when taking over Mexico would be far cheaper and easier. There would be no illegal immigration from Mexico if all the Mexicans were U.S. citizens. We would get 31 more states; manufacturing. Food processing (including Oreos and Ritz), Oil and gas reserves, resorts. What’s not to love?
Levying huge fines on companies hiring illegal workers won’t raise significant amounts of money, because if we did that then every company would let go all its illegal workers and hire legal ones instead. We can’t have that!
The Senator from Quintana Roo has a nice ring to it.
An Engineer Explains Why Trump’s Wall Is Implausible
Dave- You forgot Hershey’s Kisses and other Hershey products.
Cassandra-
John Oliver already skewered Trump’s wannabe wall:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU8dCYocuyI