Sen. Cruz Introduces the EL CHAPO Act
Sen. Cruz Introduces the EL CHAPO Act. Photo: U.S. Senate

Just hours after the White House confirmed that President Donald Trump will postpone until next September the fight over funds for a wall on the Mexican border, he said in a message via Twitter he didn't change his position on its construction.

"Do not let the fake media tell you that I have changed my position on the wall. This will be built to stop drugs, human trafficking, etc.," he tweeted.

Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz introduced a two-page bill, in which he advises the US government to use the money confiscated from Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzman and the Sinaloa cartel to finance the construction of the wall On the border with Mexico.

The Mexican press echoed the news and reported that in the document published Cruz said that the US federal government seeks to seize 14 billion dollars to "El Chapo", which could be paid to the 21 billion dollars that could cost the border wall.

"Fourteen billion dollars would go a long way toward building a wall that will keep Americans safe and prevent the illegal flow of drugs, weapons and individuals across the southern border," Cruz said during the spending bill, naming the initiative as "El CHAPO Act". “Ensuring the safety and security of Texans is one of my top priorities. We must also be mindful of the impact on the federal budget. By leveraging any criminally forfeited assets of El Chapo and his ilk, we can offset the wall’s cost and make meaningful progress toward achieving President Trump’s stated border security objectives.”

On Friday, January 20, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that El Chapo will face charges following his extradition to the United States from Mexico. The U.S. Government has alleged that El Chapo was operating a continuing criminal enterprise and other drug-related crimes through his leadership of the Mexican organized crime syndicate known as the Sinaloa Cartel.

The indictment alleges that between January 1989 and December 2014, El Chapo led a continuing criminal enterprise responsible for importing into the United States and distributing massive amounts of illegal narcotics and conspiring to murder persons who posed a threat to El Chapo’s narcotics enterprise.

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