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The Secret Financial Weapon to Use Against Illegal Immigration
Buried in the Big, Beautiful Bill is a weapon Trump can use against illegal immigration, deincentivizing working illegally in the United States while at the same time cutting into money laundering by Mexican and other drug cartels. It is a 3.5 percent remittance tax on money sent by aliens in the U.S. home to their country. Small change? By the end of 2023, remittances sent by workers in the U.S., many illegal, to low- and middle-income countries reached approximately $639 trillion dollars — about 78 percent of total remittances across the globe for the whole world. The main recipient countries include India (12.6 percent of the total sent), Mexico (7.5 percent), China (6.4 percent), and the Philippines (4.8 percent). Mexico currently receives money tax free. U.S. law makes it possible and needs to be changed.
“Directo a México” is the official remittance program of the Federal Reserve Bank, facilitated through the FedGlobal service, which allows illegal immigrants to transfer money to Mexico’s central bank at no additional fee. Since 2003, after an agreement was signed by George W. Bush, users of U.S. financial institutions subscribed to Directo a México can send payments to any bank account in Mexico at no cost. New Yorkers can see such services advertised in Spanish on the subway; in smaller cities the transfer work is done by Wells Fargo, Moneygram, and check cashing storefronts. States with large populations of illegal Mexicans, such as California and Texas, rank highest in remittance outflows.
It is a well-used system — in 2023, Mexico received $63.3 billion in remittances, establishing the country’s position as the second-largest destination for such funds worldwide. Remittances from abroad account for roughly 4.5 percent of Mexico’s total GDP (in some poorer Mexican states remittances comprised 14 percent or more of their GDP) and form the largest single source of foreign income for Mexico, outstripping the income brought in by any other source, including foreign direct investment from the United States, tourism, and manufacturing exports. The total value of remittances increased by roughly 32 percent between 2019 and 2023, rising by an average of five percent per year. Mexico does not just send hundreds of thousands of illegal workers to the U.S.; its domestic economy outright depends on them working in El Norte. Much the same for the other leading countries, such as India, though the bulk of its remittances comes from H1-B visa holders.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum knows the value of the program and showed just how desperately her country relies on these remittance payments in a statement which “fanned the flames of the LA riots.” “Mexican citizens in America work hard to pay their bills. We don’t want this tax to affect the remittances of our countrymen,” Sheinbaum said. “If necessary, we will mobilize. We will not allow them to punish those who help the least fortunate.”
Sheinbaum may be focused on more than the “least fortunate of her country.” According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), “The expanding volume of remittance transactions provides more than economic benefits to regular Mexicans; it also presents ample opportunity for exploitation. Criminal organizations take advantage of the small-increment nature of remittance transactions to evade oversight regulations and launder money related to drug trafficking and other illicit income streams, a practice which has increased in frequency since the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted cross-border movement and the associated traditional methods of bulk cash smuggling.”
As the fentanyl crisis, illegal immigration, and cartel-related violence become increasingly prominent flash points in the United States-Mexico relationship, the expanding flow of remittances between the two countries should face increasing scrutiny from policymakers. Mexican cartels are awash in cash from U.S. sales of fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, and marijuana. Presently, up to 10 percent of all Mexico-bound remittances may be drug money moved by criminal organizations like the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, according to Reuters. A report by the Mexican think tank Signos Vitales estimated at least $4.4 billion in remittances sent to Mexico last year could come from illegal activity.
Sadly, from 2017–2022, the U.S. Department of Justice successfully prosecuted only seven drug trafficking cases involving misuse of remittances. Yet taken together, even those handful of cases still involved the laundering of more than $100 million. Cases typically involved criminals owning a crucial element of the supply chain, the remittance storefronts.
What can be done to slow the flow of remittances, maybe the profits of drug cartels, into Mexico? One bill, a proposal by Representative Kevin Hern (R-OK) and then-senator J.D. Vance sought to impose a 10 percent fee on remittances sent abroad. This initiative, entitled the Withholding Illegal Revenue Entering Drug Markets (WIRED) Act,was used as a guide for the text in the Big, Beautiful Bill to add a 3.5 percent tax on remittances into Mexico.
Meanwhile, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) wants to increase the remittance tax in the Big, Beautiful Bill from 3.5 percent to 15 percent following Sheinbaum’s threats. “I’m introducing legislation to quadruple the proposed remittance tax. America is not the world’s piggy bank. And we don’t take kindly to threats,” Schmitt said on X. “As I’ve said many times before: America isn’t an economic zone. It isn’t an airport with a shopping mall attached. It’s our country.”
Given the involvement of the Mexican drug cartels, it is clear more than a tax is needed. President Trump must immediately empower the Department of Justice to aggressively investigate remittances into Mexico. The Department should also look into the storefront remittance centers in America which are the source of much of the money flowing southward. According to CSIS, in several of earlier indictments, individuals indicted “systematically opened several branches of remittance providers to be able to process the high volume of remittances necessary to launder money. While handling such volume single handedly would be a daunting task, collectively, these networks facilitated the movement of illicit money without raising any alarms.” Tighter background checks on potential branch owners could be a first step. Identification requirements for transfers are currently more relaxed than those needed to set up a formal bank account or to wire significant sums of money. Reuters interviewed two dozen Mexico residents who said they had been paid by the Sinaloa Cartel to act as conduits for remittances, turning the money over to cartel operatives after receiving it.
“Follow the money” says the old adage, and following the flow of cash into Mexico is a twofer: make it less profitable for illegal aliens to work in the U.S. while at the same time cutting into the money laundering networks set up right under American authorities’ noses. This represents a natural next move in Trump’s immigration crackdown, and another justification for the Big, Beautiful Bill.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
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Rich Bauer said...
1The drug cartels own the banks, pal. Your strategy has more holes than the fence at the border. Watch the money laundering loan scheme in “Sicario” that makes a joke out of your remittance strategy. Your remittance drug concern mirrors Donnie Dementia deportation “strategy”, promising to weed out the dangerous criminals, but in truth going after the low hanging fruit.
07/9/25 10:10 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
2The secret weapon that ends the MAGA CULT: mixed programming
Donnie Dementia is desperate to distract MAGA’s attention from his Epstein file scandal. But he is making the mistake that eventually ends cult leaders: conflicting programming. His cult has been programmed to believe the Big Q Lie of a vast satanic child sex conspiracy involving Dems and the Deep State. Now his blonde bimbo in the DOJ and whatever-freak is at the head of the FBI have cast doubt on the Big Lie, that the Epstein sex scandal is a big nothing. Nobody on any list. Nobody got sex trafficked to nobody. No arrests needed. The BIG CONSPIRACY was just something the Dems and Deep State made up. Right.
Since the MAGA cult has lost its ability to think critically, refusing to realize they are being played for political gain, the Big Lie will not go silently into the night. Paranoia persists. If VD Dance was smart, he would leak info that there are photos of DD with EPSTEIN and naked young women. The mob has to be satisfied. The cult leader ends himself. The End.
07/9/25 1:54 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
3The Not-so Secret Weapon to Use Against Donnie Dementia and his Deep SHIT State: their sheer stupidity
While Donnie Dementia hoped to distract his dumbass supporters by attacking Iran’s nuke factory without the approval of his potted plants in Congress, a real bomb blew up in his fat orange face when his BBB, blonde Bondi Bimbo, in the DOJ took a hammer to the Epstein bomb sex scandal. MAGA refuses to believe DD’s DEEP SHIT State saying that only lunatics still think there was a great DS conspiracy here.
Why would blonde Bondi bimbo do something so stupid to turn on the biggest issue that got this crime gang elected? Here’s a hint: stupid is as stupid does. Bondi gives blonde bimbos a bad rep. Anyone who has worked around her will tell you her sheer stupidity is her secret weapon. Anyone believing DD gave her the Okay to send the Epstein files to the cornfield, doesnt understand that DD’s brain has the cognitive capacity of a cheeseburger. His braintrust of Miller, Lunatik, Navarro, Patel, Noem, Tulsi has reached critical mass, and its sheer stupidity is on the verge of blowing MAGA away to the dustbin of history.
07/12/25 11:50 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
4Donnie Dementia should lose his US citizenship
DD thinks Americans who pose a threat should lose their citizenship. DD has set a low bar to deport non-citizens. The latest ICE statistics show that as of June 29, there were 57,861 people detained by ICE, 41,495 — 71.7% — of whom had no criminal convictions. That includes 14,318 people with pending criminal charges and 27,177 who are subject to immigration enforcement, but have no known criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.
Each detainee is assigned a threat level by ICE on a scale of 1 to 3, with one being the highest. Those without a criminal record are classified as having “no ICE threat level.” As of June 23, the latest data available, 84% of people detained at 201 facilities nationwide were not given a threat level. Another 7% had been graded as a level 1 threat, 4% were level 2 and 5% were level 3.
DD incited a mob to overthrow the 2020 election and jerked off for three hours watching the mob attack law enforcement.
DD is a documented sex pervert.
DD is a war criminal.
DD should lose his citizenship.
07/12/25 3:53 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
5The “AmeriCONserve it to you” AINT DRINKING THE DD KOOL-AID NO MORE
“We were promised no more “forever wars,” but Trump couldn’t help but play marionette to Netanyahu’s terror dreams, bombing the Iranian nuclear facilities “into oblivion” when called upon.
We were promised an America that would no longer be treated as an economic zone where cheap, illegal labor would be prioritized over American workers so the big farms and big hoteliers and big restaurants could make big money at the expense of American cultural harmony.
When it came to deporting hundreds of thousands if not millions of illegal workers, Trump proposed that farmers would be “responsible” for looking after their illegal farmhands, a bastardized version of indentured servitude that benefits big business, not American workers.
We were promised a transparent government that would focus on resetting the deep-seated bureaucracy that has used Washington as a private investment vehicle for decades. But within a month of Trump’s second administration, his family and associates were already profiting off a set of useless crypto tokens that enriched Trump on paper while making a mockery of the office.
After years of bashing Democrats for failing to genuinely reach the hollowed-out, struggling American core, Trump showed himself no different than the politicians before as he repeatedly posted about the Trump memecoin, one of the most brazen pump-and-dumps in the history of crypto. The coin soared on Trump’s initial posts calling it “the Greatest of them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” but has done nothing but sell off in the months after, a sinister reality that has harmed his most ardent supporters who will buy anything associated with Trump.
The Swamp. The Deep State. Permanent Washington. Whatever you want to call it, it’s Trump’s now. The unnamed figures who pull the real levers of power have soundly defeated the resounding cries of Trump’s populist base. The man who promised a jackhammer appears barely able to lift a feather. No amount of cope can change the stark truth. It’s now The Trump SWAMP.
The question is not whether Trump will lose his base; it’s whether he’ll turn off everyone else.”
07/12/25 6:29 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
6Time to flush the DD turd down his golden toilet
Donald Trump -anagram DAMN TURD POL- has a sordid history with toilets. Hid TOP SECRET DOCS next to his toilet in his Maralongo slum. Then DD claimed Americans are flushing their toilets “10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once” and argued that they are having difficulty with washing their hands in what appeared to be a tangent about low-flow sinks and toilets. It is only appropriate DD will end his political life on a toilet. Impeached twice, that damn turd just wont flush. Losing the House in 2026, DD will be impeached again. The third time is the charm.
07/15/25 2:32 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
7MAGA AFTER THE GREAT FLUSH
Donnie Dementia has learned his conspiratorial BS toward the deep state won’t be dispelled by a social media lecture—or by any other standard Beltway gambit to pack off an unpleasant controversy to the margins of public attention. This is why MAGA influencers, usually so quick to appease and please the movement’s overlord, aren’t caving this time: Long after DD is FLUSHED, they’ll need to continue relying on the persecution narratives stoked by the Epstein scandal in order to stay in business. While the right’s latest Epstein fracas isn’t likely to transform Trump into an enemy of the movement that launched him into power, it could still turn him into something at least as toxic: a threat to their grift.
07/15/25 2:48 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
8The American Empire is defunct in my opinion. The premise that a “free press” will assure a continuance of civil and moral order within a nation has been usurped by a meddling media that is an angry agitator. The ATLANTIC: “Putin humiliates Trump!” Mass media journalists are like drunken fans at a MMA cage dust up. They advocate for discord and comeuppance. PVB has tried to keep it civil and that is admirable. Bauer will disagree but that is his right.
07/15/25 8:07 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
9JP,
Speaking of defunct empires, Trump raised issue with Mr. Z that Ukraine could raze Moscow with US -supplied weapons.
Trump humiliates Putin
Trump will announce a new plan to arm Ukraine on Monday that is expected to include offensive weapons, two sources with knowledge of the plans tell Axios.
Why it matters: Sending offensive weapons would be a major shift for Trump, who had until recently been at pains to say he would provide only defensive weapons to avoid escalating the conflict.
U.S., Ukrainian and European officials hope the weapons will shift the trajectory of the war and change Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calculations regarding a ceasefire.
Two sources told Axios they had reason to believe the plan was likely to include long-range missiles that could reach targets deep inside Russian territory, including Moscow. However, neither was aware of any final decision.
“Trump is really pissed at Putin. His announcement tomorrow is going to be very aggressive,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Axios.
Putin humiliated Trump. TACO never chickens out on bombs.
07/16/25 11:23 AM | Comment Link