Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is, or least was, among the richest people in the world. At the height of his power, Guzman may have even been a billionaire and was estimated to be the 10th richest person in Mexico. He’ll be having trouble spending all that money, however, as earlier this week he has been found guilty of 10 charges related to his drug empire.
It’s believed that Guzman pocketed over $14 billion in revenue. And Republican Senator Ted Cruz (Texas) has an idea how that money should be spent: Building Donald Trump’s border wall.
In fact, Ted Cruz is now pushing the “EL CHAPO Act,” which would use money seized by federal prosecutors to fund the border wall. The bill, officially called “Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order Act,” was first introduced in April of 2017.
If Cruz has his way, most of the money seized from El Chapo would be used to fund border security, including a physical wall or barrier along the US-Mexico border. Doing so would solve one of President Donald Trump’s biggest headaches. While Trump pledged on the 2016 campaign trail to build a wall, he has struggled to secure funding.
Currently, Democrats are refusing to provide President Trump with the requested $5.6 billion in funds to build his wall. Democrats are offering just $1.3 billion to build roughly 55 miles of the wall. There’s no confirmation that President Trump will agree to the deal to avoid another government shutdown, however.
As for El Chapo, it’s widely expected that the former drug kingpin will spend the rest of his life in jail.
