U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has proposed legislation that would designate funds confiscated from convicted drug lord Joaquin Guzman for border wall construction.
To which El Chapo's lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, scoffed.
"Sen. Cruz surely knows that the government has seized none – not a penny – of Mr. Guzman's assets so getting him to pay for the wall is ludicrous," the lawyer said, according to CNN. "There's a better chance of Mr. Cruz paying for the wall."
But, ahem, that's not the way it works, Cruz responded.
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El Chapo’s lawyer seems confused. Nobody is asking for voluntary contributions. After El Chapo’s 10 convictions, DOJ will begin criminal forfeiture proceedings to seize every penny of El Chapo’s $14 Bn illicit fortune. My legislation would, in turn, use those $ to build the wall. https://t.co/pAh7l4pnP9
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 17, 2019
"El Chapo's lawyer seems confused," he wrote on Twitter. "Nobody is asking for voluntary contributions. After El Chapo's 10 convictions, DOJ will begin criminal forfeiture proceedings to seize every penny of El Chapo's $14 Bn illicit fortune. My legislation would, in turn, use those $ to build the wall."
CNN had quoted Guzman's lawyer writing: "An attorney for Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman has a message for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. The recently convicted drug kingpin is not paying for the wall."
BizPacReview reported Cruz' proposal is the "Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order Act," or El Chapo.
He's urging members of Congress to take swift action to assign allocate such funds for building a border wall, which would contribute to stopping the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.
Crus has characterized the money as "ill-gotten revenue" from the "death, addiction and misery" drugs cause.
The president called it an interesting idea.
The convicted drug cartel operator has escaped from prison several times. He was taken into custody again in 2016 and sent to the U.S. for trial.
On Twitter, one user commented "in essence Mexico would actually be pay for the wall!"
WND commentator and television and movie star Chuck Norris earlier endorsed the idea.
"If you didn't know, El Chapo is almost entirely responsible for the majority of drugs that come up through the U.S. southern border," he wrote. "As the co-founder and head of the Sinaloa Cartel, he is the #1 supplier of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines into the U.S. If you or your loved ones have ever tried or been addicted to illegal drugs, odds are they originated from the Sinaloa Cartel.
"Consider that in just four shipments of drugs, Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Fels said in his opening argument that El Chapo had sent 'more than a line of cocaine for every single person in the United States.' That amounts to over 328 million lines of cocaine in just four shipments."
He noted Dolia Estevez, who covers Mexico's billionaires, politics and U.S.-Mexico relations, wrote in Forbes: "The 33-page indictment against El Chapo, filed in 2016 at the U.S. Eastern District of New York, does not dissect the $14 billion. It simply says that upon conviction, the U.S. will seek forfeiture of any property or contractual rights derived from the continuing criminal enterprise, 'including but not limited to at least approximately a sum of money equal to $14 billion in United States currency.'"
In 2011, El Chapo was ranked the 10th-richest man in Mexico and 1,140th in the world, with a personal net worth of about $1 billion.
"However," Norris wrote, "as head of the Sinaloa Cartel, an international criminal organization with billions of dollars in revenues that are laundered through over 288 companies and a shipping and transport empire to traffic drugs, El Chapo still has access to astronomical amounts of money from a plethora of illegal resources. The fact is, $14 billion is chump change from that El chumpo!
"Think of the impact passing the EL CHAPO Act could have. First, El Chapo's drug monies could fully fund the completion of the entire U.S. southern border wall without a single dime more from the federal government or American taxpayers. Second, simultaneously the majority of El Chapo's own drug trafficking into our country would be greatly diminished using his own monies. Third, president Trump could fulfill his primary campaign promise. Fourth, the Democrats would be able to open their government the same day the EL CHAPO Act passed," Norris wrote.