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Trump Says He Would Threaten To Cut Off Remittances To Force Mexico To Pay For Border Wall

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Donald Trump says he would force Mexico to pay for a border wall by threatening to cut off billions of dollars in remittances sent by immigrants living in the United States.

According to a memo released by his campaign Tuesday, Trump would try to compel Mexico to pay for a 1,000-mile wall if he becomes president.

"Mexico currently receives $24 billion in remittance payments annually from the United States. This provides substantial leverage for the United States to obtain from Mexico the funds necessary to pay for a border wall," his campaign said in a statement.

In his proposal, Trump threatened to change a rule under the USA Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law, to cut off funds sent to Mexico through money transfers known as remittances. Trump said he would withdraw the threat if Mexico makes "a one-time payment of $5-10 billion" to "finance the wall."

The Mexican central bank said Mexicans living abroad sent nearly $25 billion home to their families last year, according to The Washington Post. But a Government Accountability Office report from earlier this year found that it's difficult to track how much money Mexicans living illegally in the U.S. send home versus those who live here legally, CBS News reported.

The billionaire businessman has estimated his proposed wall would cost between $10 billion and $12 billion, and has argued that it would protect the country from illegal border crossings as well as halting drug shipments.

Mexico's government, meanwhile, has made it clear that it wouldn't pay for the wall Trump is proposing. Last month, Mexican Treasury Secretary Luis Videgaray said Mexico "emphatically and categorically" won't pay for it, CBS News reported.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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