Ted Cruz Proposes to Use El Chapo's Money to Pay for US-Mexico Wall

Senator Ted Cruz said in a press release on Tuesday he introduced a measure on Tuesday to allow the US government to fund border security through money it seizes from the Sinaloa drug cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and other drug lords.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Cruz’s legislation is titled EL CHAPO Act, which stands for Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order.

"The bill would reserve any amounts forfeited to the US government as a result of the criminal prosecution of ‘El Chapo’ and other drug lords for border security assets and the completion of the wall along the US-Mexico border," the release stated on Tuesday.

The US government is seizing at present more than $14 billion from Guzman in drug proceeds and illicit profits, the release stated.

Guzman was extradited to the United States in January, to face a sentence of life in prison for operating a criminal drug organization and being involved in other drug-related crimes in New York.

The Sinaloa drug cartel, named after his home state, smuggles cocaine from Colombia through Mexico to the United States. Sinaloa is responsible for a major portion of cocaine, heroin and marijuana sold in the streets of the United States.