MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Central Bank (Banxico) boss is criticizing Donald Trump’s proposal to block remittances from Mexicans living in the U.S. as a way to force Mexico into paying for a border wall.
Bank governor Agustín Carstens said Tuesday that the plan would violate people’s rights. He says money being remitted is the property of the people who earn it and they have the right to transfer their funds internationally.
Trump has said he would modify a clause of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act to keep the money until Mexico agreed to make a one-time payment of $5 billion to $10 billion for the wall.
Remittances to Mexico totaled nearly $24.8 billion last year, exceeding for the first time earnings from oil exports. They represent more than 2 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product.