The government should use the billions of dollars captured from drug cartels to help fund the nation's border wall, which would help to decrease criminal activity at the same time that border security is strengthened, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who has devised a plan to make that happen, said Monday.
"They now need to transfer it back to say, Mexico," Cassidy told Fox News' "Outnumbered Overtime." "The fact that we capture that money, to use it for increased border security, theoretically, could increase the amount of money we seize in the future from related activities."
At least $60 billion a year is being moved by the cartels out of the United States to other countries, where in some cases the funds finance Hezbollah and terrorism, while "we are getting $5 billion," Cassidy said. "That means they are successfully moving $55 billion a year."
That so much money is leaving constitutes yet another national emergency, he added, and "shows you how ineffective the current policies are, and what justification there is for more aggressive policy."
Meanwhile, Cassidy said it is getting "tougher" for Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to argue against increased spending for the border wall, in particular, the president's new budget call for $8.6 billion, because media outlets like The New York Times are also referring to a "crisis" at the border.
"When you have your allies in the media conceding the point to President Trump, maybe the argument is shifting," Cassidy said.