We can make both America and Mexico safe and prosperous.
Currently, $100 billion is spent on illegal drugs each year. Some of these revenues fund street-gang activity, while much of it returns to the source, the drug cartel kingpins.
An estimated $50 billion is sent to the cartels through electronic remittances, or returned by couriers. The F.B.I. should confiscate these ill-gotten gains and the Border Patrol should interdict the drugs, personnel and weapons crossing the border.
The confiscated money could be used to build the border wall and pay for the interdiction efforts.
Many of the shootings in our cities involve gangs fighting for control of drug sales. Building a wall will not only cut off the flow of drugs, it will stop the flow of criminals and guns and reduce the incidence of crime and violence. Confiscation will reduce the profitability of drug sales for street gangs and the cartels.
For 30 years, our open borders policy has enriched criminals and empowered them to bribe politicians and the police. It is time for a new policy and new projects.
Michael F. McCarthy
Hayward, Calif.
