Cruz Introduces “El Chapo Act”: Use $14B Asset Forfeiture to Pay for Border Wall
Gingrich: “What a grand and fitting irony”
As the GOP and President Trump kick the border wall funding can down the road, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has proposed the Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order (EL CHAPO) Act. The proposal includes using the expected $14 billion to be seized from El Chapo should he be convicted to pay for the big, beautiful border wall.
Today I introduced the EL CHAPO Act, which reserves billions in forfeited assets to pay for border security https://t.co/Z89EJF2Vg9
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) April 25, 2017
In a press release on Cruz’s Senate website, he lays out the proposal.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today introduced the Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order (EL CHAPO) Act. The bill would reserve any amounts forfeited to the U.S. Government as a result of the criminal prosecution of “El Chapo” (formally named Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Lorea) and other drug lords for border security assets and the completion of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The U.S. Government is currently seeking the criminal forfeiture of more than $14 billion in drug proceeds and illicit profits from El Chapo, the former leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel who was recently extradited to the U.S. to face criminal prosecution for numerous alleged drug-related crimes, including conspiracy to commit murder and money laundering.
“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,” said Sen. Cruz. “Ensuring the safety and security of Texans is one of my top priorities. We must also be mindful of the impact on the federal budget. By leveraging any criminally forfeited assets of El Chapo and his ilk, we can offset the wall’s cost and make meaningful progress toward achieving President Trump’s stated border security objectives.”
Watch:
Twitter lit up with reaction to Cruz’s proposal.
El Chapo Act, brilliant bill from @TedCruz would dedicate funds seized from Mexican drug cartels to border security. pic.twitter.com/IqFs31vsue
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) April 25, 2017
Ted Cruz is exactly right to focus on confiscating Mexican drug money to pay for the wall. What a grand and fitting irony.
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) April 25, 2017
==> Maybe the greatest idea ever … via @ChrisCPandolfohttps://t.co/RcX6d9ehmD
— Conservative Review (@CR) April 26, 2017
Brilliant!
Here are the details: https://t.co/4hLXQbQNcy https://t.co/Im7YroMhqO
— The Resurgent (@resurgent) April 26, 2017
Ted Nugent on Cruz's Wall Proposal: The Idea Is Absolutely Bulletproof | Fox Business https://t.co/o7o6qkdlaR
— Chris Wilson (@WilsonWPA) April 26, 2017
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Comments
Not a fan of this. It puts a onerous and stink-bomb hanging over El Chapos’ trial and sentencing. His attorneys will file all sorts of VALID objections b/c the Government would have a financial AND political motive to find guilt and forfeiture. No bueno. = years and years of appeals and money not released = no wall.
A political stunt that keeps the heat off of Congress to fund the building/funding in the short term AND a stunt to relieve Mexico from paying for it…. which makes Trump look like a jerk… which would be fine with Cruz. Oh, and Cruz is up for reelection in ’18. heh.
That Cruz boy is just tots irrelevant…
Heh…!!!
What? I can’t stick it to the lying T-rump suckers here who slimed Cruz…???
Sad.
What? You can’t stand being called out when you do?
Typical.
This is a good idea/publicity stunt from Cruz. While Cruz has done many bone headed things over the past 18 months, he doesn’t come up with something good now and then. This is one of those times.
Fortunately for the country President Trump saved us from Cruz getting the GOP nomination. If Cruz had been the GOP nominee, Hillary would be president today.
Heh !!
$14 billion is a lot of money laundering.
I figured out why casino guy Sheldon Adelson wants prohibition to continue. Casinos launder money. An end to prohibition would hurt his business.
Funny enough Trump plans to nominate a casino guy for Drug Czar.
http://classicalvalues.com/2017/04/the-czar-and-the-casino/
Just how blatant can you get – without people noticing?
VERY.
And FYI – Trump is a casino guy. What are the odds he doesn’t know how it works?
I highly recommend this search:
“resorts international” “castle bank” richard nixon
In other words – this game goes back to Nixon – if not further.
DeNaples has been vindicated:
In 2001, as part of a federal gambling investigation, four informants make mention of a relationship between DeNaples and current leader of the Bufalino crime family, William D’Elia. The informants alleged DeNaples made payments to D’Elia for undisclosed work and paid the crime boss protection money.[5]
In April 2012, The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ordered DeNaples to resign as chairmen of the First National Community Bancorp and begin divesting his controlling interest in the bank due to his 2009 perjury charges that were later dropped. On May 10, 2012, a three-judge panel denied his appeal and ordered his immediate resignation.[6]
In 2013, a federal appeals court unanimously reversed the ban, allowing DeNaples back on the board of First National Community Bank, and blasted regulators for abusing the law. From the Allentown Morning Call: “The 22-page decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia lambasted the federal regulators for ‘bizarre,’ ‘untenable’ and ‘scatter-shot’ enforcement of the law and faulted regulators for inconsistently applying the unclear and not properly framed or communicated rules.”[7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_DeNaples
What I like most about this is that Obama repeatedly distributed money generated by fines to serve his political ends. That means liberals would have no grounds to object to funding the wall this way.
Didn’t Obama do it without any authorizing legislation/authority ?
I’m trying to figure out how the Left is going to spin this as a tax on poor junkies and drug addicts in order to profit rich wall-building companies, then turn it into an attempt to legalize coke and meth.
The only way I’m okay with it is “should he be convicted”.
If he is NOT convicted it will be the greatest miscarriage of justice since the storied case where a judge was convicted of accepting a bribe that the defendant was acquitted of giving!
If he is NOT convicted it will be the greatest miscarriage of justice since the “suicide” of Vince Foster.
How does this interact with the CBO?
Does it mean they can spend money to build the wall now in expectation of receiving the El Chapo money somewhere down the line — making it score as budget neutral?
Sounds like somebody’s counting his money before it’s hatched.
Or perhaps it’s an excuse to delay the project until after the (alleged) miscreant is tried and convicted and the money is located and collected. I.e., a looooong time. And that would suit far too many in Congress just fine.
Jeff Sessions reportedly supports civil forfeiture, and Trump has said he does, too. I don’t — but if they’re going to do it, putting any forfeited drug funds towards border security is a good idea.
Far better than just letting it go into the general fund!
There is no way that $14 Billion of El Chapo’s assets will be identified and seized. $1 Billion would be surprising.
But this was some great political grandstanding by Cruz.
Doubtful that any LibDems will vote for this, or anything else that advances the Trump agenda. Their motto: Resist We Much!
Trump and Cruz are reportedly working together to get things done. Unfortunately their supporters are still sniping at each other.
The Dems must see this kind of foolishness with glee. They are in total disarray and only a divided GOP keeps them at all relevant.