Here’s an Alternative Option to Fund the Border Wall

President Trump suggested throughout the 2016 presidential campaign and during post-inauguration conversations with the president of Mexico that he will build a wall along our southern border and that Mexico will pay for it. 

This was always one of his biggest applause lines on the campaign trail, and a policy we heartily endorse, but it may be easier said than done. 

Taxing Mexican imports, for example, would really mean that American consumers would pay for the wall. Likewise, attempting to tax remittances paid to Mexicans by people living in the United States faces a host of problems in getting such a tax through Congress and the identification, taxation and collection of the tax payments. 

However, we have another option; on Jan. 25, 2017, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order denying federal funding to sanctuary cities who choose not to comply with federal laws regarding deportation of illegal entrants.

According to reporting by Suzanne Ciechalski for nbcchicago.com there are 106 American cities that are considered sanctuary cities, but close to 300 total government jurisdictions, including states, counties, cities and other municipalities that claim to be sanctuaries, according to the study, “Federal Funding of America’s Sanctuary Cities.” The total population living in sanctuary cities is about 46 million people. 

New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Austin, Newark, Denver, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Portland and Providence are some major sanctuary cities. One in five undocumented immigrants lives in these cities. And combined, these cities received $16 billion in federal funding in 2016, according to Ciechalski’s analysis of the study. 

Although most politicians, pundits and journalists claimed that the total amount of federal funding going to so-called sanctuary cities was undetermined, our friends at OpenTheBooks.com, were able to identify that number: $26.74 billion flowed into America’s 106 “sanctuary cities” in fiscal year 2016. 

So we propose an alternative solution to making Mexico pay for the wall: making sanctuary cities pay for the wall. 

The proposed wall on the southern border is projected to cost around $10 billion. 

According to our friends at openthebooks.com, sanctuary cities extort almost $27 billion from American taxpayers to pursue their unconstitutional scheme to nullify the immigration laws passed by Congress. 

And here’s how it would work: 

• San Francisco would forfeit over $467,000,000
• Los Angeles would forfeit over $502,000,000 
• New York City would forfeit some $7.6 billion 
• Add in the over $5.2 billion that Chicago would forfeit, and you’re well past your goal of $10 billion. 

After that the $11,000,000 forfeited by Lima, Ohio; the $231,115,651 from Nashville, Tennessee; the $271,696 from Jupiter, Florida; and the $35,555,757 from McAllen, Texas, plus the billions of dollars sent to other cities whose elected officials could grandstand for the far-left illegal alien crowd free while Obama was president would just be gravy. 

And this is just a one-year savings. 

After Year One, the wall would be paid for, and every year a $26.74 billion savings would accrue to the taxpayers of jurisdictions whose elected officials actually follow the Constitution and the laws Congress passes.

George Rasley is editor of ConservativeHQ, a member of American MENSA and a veteran of over 300 political campaigns, including every Republican presidential campaign from 1976 to 2008. He served as lead advance representative for Governor Sarah Palin in 2008 and has served as a staff member, consultant or advance representative for some of America’s most- recognized conservative Republican political figures, including President Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. He served in policy and communications positions on the House and Senate staff, and during the George H.W. Bush administration, he served on the White House staff of Vice President Dan Quayle.

This article was originally published at ConservativeHQ.com. Used with permission.