Legal and
illegal migrants sent $53.4 billion in remittances back to Mexico and Central
America in 2018. That’s $53.4 billion – with a “B” – and more than double the
projected cost of building a border barrier.
Remittances to Mexico alone reached $33.7 billion in 2018, up 21
percent from roughly $27.8 billion in 2016, the World Bank reported.
Remittances to Central America are spiking with a growing inflow
of asylum seekers benefiting from U.S. catch-and-release laws. Wire transfers
to Central America hit $19.7 billion last year, up from $15.8 billion in 2016.
The southbound windfall includes payments to human-trafficking cartels.
With an estimated 83 percent of Mexicans who enter the U.S.
illegally sending money home, a surcharge on remittances is one sure way for
President Trump to make good on his promise to make Mexico pay for the wall.
For a few cents on the dollar it wouldn’t take long for Mexico to
pay for the wall! Dane continues,
At the
current (and rising) rate of remittances, a nominal 2 percent surcharge on
Mexico-bound funds would raise $674 million for a border wall in the first
year. Slap a fee on all foreign remittances — $150 billion last year — and the
2,000-mile barrier is fully paid off within eight years.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
No comments:
Post a Comment