The potential cost to Mexicans from the immigration riots – as well as from threats and scoffing by Mexican leaders – may be going up.
After Mexican flags flew and American flags burned in the Los Angeles riots and the Mexican president threatened to “mobilize” in the U.S., Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt is leading the charge to raise taxes on income immigrants in the U.S. send back to Mexico.
Schmitt Tuesday introduced the Requiring Excise for Migrant Income Transfers (REMIT) Act that would put a 15% excise tax on the immigrants’ so-called “remittances” to Mexico.
The cash flowing from the U.S. to Mexico isn’t currently taxed at all. President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” would establish a nominal 3.5% remittance tax.
But when Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum assailed the proposed tax over the weekend – threatening that, “If necessary, we’ll mobilize. We don’t want taxes on remittances from our fellow countrymen from the U.S. to Mexico” – Schmitt responded by seeking to quadruple the proposed 3.5% remittance tax to 15%.
“America is not the world’s piggy bank,” Schmitt said in a press release.
“Each year, the U.S. sees tens of billions of dollars leave our country as foreign nationals wire money back to their nations of origin, siphoning wealth and resources directly from our economy. Remittances have also been a major driver of the mass migration crisis we have seen at our southern border.
“It’s time to put America first. By implementing a 15 percent tax on remittances, we will keep more money in the United States and put American workers in the driver’s seat once again.”
Other Republicans on Capitol Hill joined in with Schmitt.
“New reason to amend the Senate bill to tax remittances at a lot higher rate,” Rep. Chip Roy, of Texas posted on X after Sheinbaum’s speech.
“Raise the remittances!!” chimed in Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Later Tuesday, when the president of the Mexican Senate was caught on video openly laughing at Schmitt’s proposed 15% rate, the Missouri senator promised to raise the proposed tax even more.
“The president of the Mexican Senate is very upset about my bill to quadruple the proposed remittance tax,” Schmitt posted on X. “At a press conference yesterday, he laughed at the idea.
“Guess what? The remittance tax just got 5% higher.”
That would be 20%, or nearly sextuple — six times — the original 3.5%.
Sheinbaum’s threat to apparently sow unrest in the U.S. was widely condemned as foreign interference in domestic affairs. She has since claimed she doesn’t condone violence, and denied any link between the riots and her threat to “mobilize” in America.
On Wednesday, legacy media outlets were reporting on Sheinbaum’s denials but largely without mentioning her threat to mobilize. British newspaper The Guardian characterized as “unfounded” a U.S. official’s claim that Sheinbaum encouraged the anti-ICE demonstrations.
