Mexican President Threatens Action Over GOP Plan to Tax Cartel Cash Flow

In an extraordinary display of misplaced outrage, Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, threatened to “mobilize” against a Republican-led plan that would slap a tax on remittances cutting off a vital financial lifeline to drug cartels operating across the southern border.

“We don’t want taxes on remittances from our fellow countrymen,” Sheinbaum declared in a fiery speech. “If necessary, we’ll mobilize.” The comments came in response to President Trump’s latest immigration reform push, which includes a 3.5% tax on foreign remittances money sent from the U.S. to other countries, much of which originates from illegal labor and benefits the cartels.

The reaction from Republican lawmakers was swift and forceful. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) wasn’t having it. “America is not the world’s piggy bank,” he posted to X. “And we don’t take kindly to threats.” Schmitt vowed to quadruple the tax to 15%, declaring it a national security imperative.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK) also voiced support, noting how billions in off-the-books earnings from illegal aliens are funneled back to Mexico and Central America empowering the same cartels that smuggle drugs, traffic humans, and flood our streets with fentanyl.

Key facts backing the remittance tax:

• Over $63 billion was sent from the U.S. to Latin America in 2022, with Mexico receiving more than $58 billion a record high.

• Much of this cash flow is untraceable, bypassing income tax systems and slipping quietly into cartel-controlled regions.

• According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, this tax would recoup lost payroll taxes from illegal labor and cut off the economic lifeline to violent criminal networks.

Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” would not only establish the remittance tax it would redirect the funds to border security, wall construction, and immigration enforcement. A clear win for national security and a blow to the cartel-industrial complex that has long profited from open borders and weak leadership.

President Sheinbaum’s threat to “mobilize” the Mexican population over a U.S. tax policy aimed at weakening her country’s most dangerous actors is telling. Instead of addressing her nation's internal corruption and rampant cartel control, she’s choosing to protect the money pipeline that keeps criminals armed and operational.

This isn't about helping struggling families this is about preserving a dark economy built on illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and U.S. taxpayer exploitation.

If Mexico wants to avoid blowback, perhaps it should focus on cleaning house rather than lecturing Americans about protecting our sovereignty.

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