GOP senator wants "virtual wall" against remittances to Mexico

In a new editorial in the Washington Examiner, Louisiana Senator David Vitter highlighted a bill he has proposed on more than one occasion in the Senate, to restrict the remittances sent by undocumented workers to Mexico.

Vitter, a Republican, expressed that his Remittance Status Verification Act, which he introduced to Congress in 2013 and 2015, “would require a fee on remittances for customers who wire money to another country but cannot prove that they are in the United States legally. The fee would be used to enhance border security".

"Basically, we would be able to dramatically improve border security while making illegal immigrants pay for it,” wrote Vitter.

His proposal addresses a question already aired by GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump mentioned the remittance bill in his immigration plan, in which he first argued for “a wall across the southern border.”

Trump has expressed that “Mexico must pay for the wall and, until they do, the United States will, among other things: impound all remittance payments derived from illegal wages; increase fees on all temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats (and if necessary, cancel them).”

According to a TIME analysis, Mexican immigrants send US$24.4 billion in remittances to Mexico from the United States.