Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says President Trump can stop mass illegal immigration and asylum fraud, as well as boost the American economy, by unilaterally ending all remittances to Mexico.
In an exclusive interview with SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Tonight, Kobach said Trump should replace his prolonged threat to Mexico — where he said he will wait a year before he puts pressure on the country — with an executive regulation that threatens to end all remittances by illegal aliens in the U.S. back to Mexico.
The threat to end remittances, Kobach detailed, can be used to force Mexico into an agreement with the U.S. that bans Central American nationals from passing through Mexico to get to the U.S. to claim asylum despite Mexico having a robust asylum system. The policy, Kobach said, would ensure that Central Americans claim asylum in the first eligible country they travel to.
LISTEN:
Kobach said:
The threat I propose is one that actually helps us if we follow through on it. That is the threat of ending remittances from the majority of people in the United States from Mexico who are here illegally. That is a threat that we could carry through on that actually helps our economy because the money is not sent home, it stays in circulation in the U.S. economy and helps rev up our economy. It’s actually a good thing if we follow through. [Emphasis added]
Kobach said that though illegal aliens from Mexico in the U.S. may turn to using forms of cryptocurrency to send money back home, the ending of remittances would still likely stop the current trend of soaring illegal immigration while also significantly putting pressure on the Mexican economy.
“There will always be ways to circumvent things you put in place,” Kobach said. “Yes, if we stop wire transfers and bank transfers, there may be ways to get around it and one way to get around it is to send cash in the mail.”
“But, it will still significantly reduce the amount of money flowing into Mexico if we exercise that threat,” Kobach said. “And frankly, we may never even have to find out because I believe if you pass the initial regulation and you tell Mexico ‘Look, we’re going to finalize this thing unless you give us a safe third country agreement,’ I think they’re going to give us the agreement. They don’t want to risk losing that massive flow of foreign capital. In most years, it’s their second biggest source of foreign capital.”
According to the latest World Bank report, remittances back to Mexico from illegal and legal immigrants living in the U.S. reached nearly $34 billion in 2018. This accounts for a 21 percent increase in remittances compared to 2016 levels, when illegal and legal immigrants from Mexico sent about $28 billion back home.
Central Americans, both illegal and legal immigrants, living in the U.S. sent about $20 billion home in remittances in 2018. This is up from the nearly $16 billion that was sent out of the U.S. to Central America in 2016. In just two years, the outflow of cash from the U.S. to Central America increased by 25 percent.
Kobach detailed to Breitbart News a series of steps the Trump administration can take, executively without approval from Congress, to drastically reduce the level of illegal immigration arriving at the southern border. Kobach asserts that historic wage hikes for America’s blue collar and working class will not continue should illegal immigration levels continue at their current pace.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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