Ted Cruz Pushes To Confiscate El Chapo’s BILLIONS To Pay For Trump’s Border Wall!

Here are more details on how it would work, from The Daily Wire:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has a unique solution for Congress' current border wall pickle.

Instead of requiring that the United States pay for the border wall out of taxpayer funds, and instead of dogging Mexico to pay for a border wall they feel is unnecessary, perhaps the United States could use some of the billions confiscated from convicted drug lord "El Chapo" to build the wall.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was found guilty Tuesday on all ten federal criminal counts against him, CNN reports, stemming from his time at the helm of the notorious Mexican drug cartel, Sinaloa. Each federal count carries a minimum of ten years in prison, and the top count — engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise — carries with it a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

During their pursuit of "El Chapo," federal agents confiscated billions of dollars in cold hard cash, along with billions of dollars in more "solid" assets, including "gold-plated AK-47s and monogrammed, diamond-encrusted pistols." By the time El Chapo was captured in 2016, federal agents had amassed a cache of more than $14 billion in seized assets.

Prosecutors are seeking a forfeiture judgment against El Chapo which would allow the federal government to keep the money.

Now Ted Cruz says he believes the money can be put to good use by building a border wall, ostensibly making it much harder for drug kingpins like El Chapo to traffic marijuana, heroin, and cocaine across the United States southern border. To that end, on Tuesday he introduced the Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order, or EL CHAPO Act.

"Fourteen billion dollars will go a long way toward building a wall that will keep Americans safe and hinder the illegal flow of drugs, weapons, and individuals across our southern border," Cruz said in a statement.

He followed up with a tweet: "America’s justice system prevailed today in convicting Joaquín Guzmán Loera, aka El Chapo, on all 10 counts. U.S. prosecutors are seeking $14 billion in drug profits & other assets from El Chapo which should go towards funding our wall to #SecureTheBorder."

Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner has proposed a nearly identical bill in the House.

"The DEA has estimated that the gross receipts of the Mexican drug trade are somewhere between $19-$29 billion a year,” Sensenbrenner told the Washington Examiner, explaining that the border security fund would not have to close after El Chapo's $14 billion was exhausted. “We don’t have to be 100 percent efficient to get the money we need to completely pay for the wall relatively quickly.”

And from local Fox13:

Sen. Ted Cruz is proposing a new source of funding for a border wall: recently convicted drug kingpin El Chapo.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was found guilty Tuesday of 10 counts, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise.

The leader of the violent Sinaloa drug cartel faces a mandatory life sentence. Federal prosecutors also plan to seek a forfeiture judgment for the property Guzman gained from drug trafficking. The value of that property is believed to be as high as $14 billion.

After Guzman’s conviction on Tuesday, Cruz renewed calls to use the money for border security.

“U.S. prosecutors are seeking $14 billion in drug profits and other assets from El Chapo which should go towards funding our wall to #SecureTheBorder,” the Texas Republican wrote on Twitter. “It’s time to pass my EL CHAPO Act. I urge my Senate colleagues to take swift action on this crucial legislation.”

Cruz originally introduced the Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order Act in April of 2017. It would reserve any “illegally obtained profits resulting from any criminal drug trafficking enterprise led by Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera” for border security measures, which could include a wall. This includes any funds forfeited by Guzman in this case or future cases involving his former associates.

Cruz reintroduced the bill last month.

“By leveraging any criminally forfeited assets of El Chapo and other murderous drug lords, we can offset the cost of securing our border and make meaningful progress toward delivering on the promises made to the American people,” Cruz said in a statement at the time.

The reintroduction of the bill and Cruz’s renewed pressure on colleagues to pass it comes as both chambers of Congress prepare to move forward on a border security spending deal drafted by a bipartisan group of negotiators.

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