Sen. Cruz pushes EL CHAPO Act to help fund border wall
SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) – Senator Ted Cruz is reintroducing a bill which would allow assets seized from drug lords to be used to pay for border security and the border wall.
Th measure is known as the EL CHAPO Act, which stands for Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order. It’s named after Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the former drug cartel leader who was found guilty on Tuesday of ten federal criminal charges.
The federal government is trying to seize more than $14 billion in drug proceeds and illegal profits from Guzman.
The EL CHAPO Act was first introduced by Cruz in April 2017 and and reintroduced this week. It would divert billions in drug proceeds from cartel leaders to border security.
The New York Times reports Guzman earned an estimated $14 billion as the leader of the Sinaloa cartel.