Mexico’s president is threatening to “mobilize” the country against a Republican proposal to tax remittances, which advocates say would choke off cash flow to Mexican drug cartels.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum raged against the proposal in a speech against the law, which imposes a tax on money sent out of the United States by foreign nationals. “If necessary, we’ll mobilize,” Sheinbaum said. “We don’t want taxes on remittances from our fellow countrymen. From the U.S. to Mexico.”
President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” includes a 3.5 percent tax on remittances, a policy that experts told The Daily Wire is key to throttling the flow of cash into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels. Republican lawmakers are pushing for a tax on money flowing out of the United States to foreign countries just after the Mexican president said that she would “mobilize against it.”
The Mexican president’s statement drew the ire of Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), who announced that he was introducing legislation to multiply the proposed 3.5 percent tax on remittances.
“The House’s Big Beautiful Bill addressed the urgent need for a remittance tax. But we can go further. I’m introducing legislation to quadruple the proposed remittance tax — from 3.5% to 15%,” Schmitt wrote on X. “America is not the world’s piggy bank. And we don’t take kindly to threats.”
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Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) also addressed Sheinbaum’s statement and came out in support of raising the tax on remittances.
The policy, immigration experts previously told The Daily Wire, would cut into cash that is funnelled from illegal aliens in America back to cartel members.
“Placing a fee on remittances is crucial because the more money that is smuggled back into Mexico, the stronger the cartels become,” said Ira Mehlman, the Media Director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
The remittance fee would also help America recuperate money that is effectively exported out of the American economy. “Many illegal aliens are working off-the-books, and therefore, no payroll taxes have been collected. Taxing the money as it leaves the country would be a way to recoup some of that revenue loss,” Mehlman noted. “Large-scale transfers of money to other countries have a negative impact on the American economy.”
Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK) introduced his own remittance tax legislation in 2022 and remains supportive of the policy.
“The cash flow from illegal immigrants in the States to their cartel partners in Mexico, Venezuela, and other countries is massive,” Hern told The Daily Wire. “It’s a two-fold win: remittance fees will help slow down the flow of those dollars to the cartels and will also create a new revenue source we can use to build the wall and secure our border.”