Posted on 01/25/2017 3:47:03 PM PST by drewh
Mexico City (CNSNews.com) – Most of the billions of dollars in cash sent to Mexico by Mexicans living in the U.S. is transferred by “undocumented” workers, and the total was expected to top $26 billion in 2016, according to research by the Washington institute Inter-American Dialogue.
Mexico is the fourth largest recipient of all cash transfers – known as remittances – worldwide, according to the Congressional Research Service.
A survey by Inter-American Dialogue of remittances to Mexico found that a majority, 67 percent in 2013, were sent by “undocumented” individuals living in the U.S.
Of all of the remittances sent to 11 countries in Latin America from the U.S. in 2015, Mexico received the largest share by far at 36 percent – four times more than the closest competitor, Guatemala, at 9 percent, the survey found.
“Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), which exceeded US$70 billion dollars in 2015, are playing a key role in the region's economic development,” according to the institute’s 2016 “Remittances scorecard.”
The majority of remittances to Mexico, 88.2 percent, are sent using the services of companies like MoneyGram and Western Union, the institute found.
It said the cash transfer industry has “expanded dramatically,” and now helps migrants in the U.S. pay their bills in Latin America.
But while services have expanded, the cost of sending money to Latin America and the Caribbean has dropped to below 5 percent of the transfer amount.
Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, says the cash transfers reveal a “hidden cost of illegal immigration because you have millions of dollars being taken out of local communities.”
“Remittances being sent out of the country represent a substantial economic impact on local communities because that money is not circulating in those communities,” Mehlman told CNSNews.com.
“On top of that, a lot of the people generating this money are working off the books and there are no payroll taxes being taken,” he added.
In remarks published in the Inter-American Dialogue’s “Remittance Industry Observatory” newsletter last November, Manuel Orozco, a member of the institute’s Financial Services Advisor board, said that “at least” $130 billion is transferred out of the U.S. each year by more than 35 million migrants.
Data gathered by the Mexican government and BBVA Research shows that in 2015, nearly one-third (29.6 percent) of all of the remittances sent from the U.S. to Mexico originated in California. Just over 14 percent was sent from Texas, and 5.1 percent from Illinois.
In 2015, remittances sent to Mexico totaled 2.3 percent of the country’s GDP, the data showed.
Forbes has reported that the money sent from the U.S. to Mexico by migrants “replaced oil revenues as Mexico’s number one source of foreign income” in late 2015.
Some 90 percent of all remittances sent worldwide are in cash, rather than by electronic or bank transfer, according to Alix Murphy, director of mobile partnerships at the remittances company WorldRemit, which operates in 47 states of the U.S.
She said the market for money transfer services in the U.S. was “very diversified.”
“We’re talking hundreds of companies that are regulated by the states.”
Individuals using the cash transfer services are required to show identification, but not immigration status, Murphy said.
Foreign-issued IDs, however, can be used, according to a 2016 analysis by the Congressional Research Service.
The Remittance Status Verification Act, introduced by then-Senator David Vitter (R-La.) in 2014 but never passed into law, would have fined senders of international cash transfers seven percent of the transfer amount if they could not show “proof of status under U.S. immigration laws.”
If enacted, such a law could slow the flow of remittances considerably, according to David Landsman, executive director of the National Money Transmitters Association.
In remarks published in the “Remittance Industry Observatory” newsletter last November, Landsman said that “[f]orcing remittance companies to be immigration enforcement agents would make remittance volumes plummet in the best of times.”
“Their transactions would then go through more informal methods, and become completely opaque to law enforcement.”
A 15 or 20% tax on overseas wire transfers would pay for the wall and show illegals it does not pay to come here. Simple solution.
put a “hold” on the funds...SLOW DOWN THE CASH ...see who squeals.
set aside a percentage for tax obligations
show a photo ID to complete the transaction - keep a copy of the ID.
Lady Liberty needs to skim a little of that money off the top, maybe just 10%, to pay for the wall. Mexico won’t even miss it, will assume it’s missing due to corruption or ‘user fees’.
Remittances without documented sources should be stopped. Tax them 50% if not documented. Heck, many states withhold taxes and leave it to people to later prove it is valid. Do this with remittances!!!
They are not undocumented workers, they are illegal aliens.
If you want to use a euphemism, a more accurate one would be fraudulently documented foreigner.
Most of them are in fact documented fraudulently, that how they are workers. They use fraudulent documents to get jobs.
The government has no qualms confiscating cash, cars, boats, and other property if they think it is the result of illegal activity. Just confiscate 100%
There ya go. There’s our cash flow LOL
“On top of that, a lot of the people generating this money are working off the books and there are no payroll taxes being taken,” he added.
A senior level IT source within the California Department of Motor Vehicles has informed CTH within the past 48 hours California officials have instructed DMV data programmers to remove the internal coding flags for the drivers licenses of illegal aliens in California.
Does this mean the Sanctuary States like California are committing INCOME TAX FRAUD by concealing the CRIMINALS identity from the Federal Government?? sure sounds like it.
President Trump. Please send the FEDS TO CALIFORNIA
26 billion and we collect no taxes to cover the nation’s expenses of $45,000 a year per each of these families.
Looks to me like a lot of that 26 billion is unpaid taxes anyway.
They would open a bank account at Bank of America and get two debit cards. One they would send to Mexico. I used my ATM card in Mexico for the two years I lived there. No problems at all.
Yank money from sanctuary cities to pay for wall, the cities can put a local tax on western union to make up the difference, make Mexico pay by making sanctuary cities (ie. little mexico cities) pay!
Yo-Yo wrote: “The Remittance Status Verification Act, introduced by then-Senator David Vitter (R-La.) in 2014 but never passed into law, would have fined senders of international cash transfers seven percent of the transfer amount if they could not show “proof of status under U.S. immigration laws.””
Something like that would work. Applying a prohibitive tax/fee on transfers to Mexico/etc, won’t. Just a matter of time before someone sets up an office in Canada(or elsewhere) to receive and transmit the fund to Mexico. For a fee of course.
And after they send their money out of the country they go crying to Catholic Charities and all the rest of the “do gooders” and make it through the month until the next month.
In our small Post Office we used to go through one pack of money orders a month. That is-after the first couple of days. Three or four pack the first two days of the month.
That was awhile ago. They all got their welfare on the first of the month the. It’s been going on for a LONG time.
Freeze it all, let them sue for conversion.
Ex turpi causa non oritur actio (Latin “from a dishonorable cause an action does not arise”) is a legal doctrine which states that a plaintiff will be unable to pursue legal remedy if it arises in connection with his own illegal act.
Trace the remittances back to the senders, then round them up and send them home.
Yup. The figure of money taken out of our economy by Mexico is more like $30 billion.
There would have to be limits on how much an individual could transmit under the Remittance Status Act. Otherwise, those with status could act for their friends/relatives/other persons.
A slight modification is required your proposed tax. Many legit companies have legit expenses overseas. They still need to transfer funds. So might I propose that the tax be applied only to those who are non US Citizens.
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