Bill Introduced By State Representative Bruce Griffey and Senator Joey Hensley to Help Fund Trump’s Border Wall Catches Attention of Laura Ingraham

The day after State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) filed a bill intended to help fund President Trump’s wall on the southern border, conservative radio and talk show host Laura Ingraham tweeted about it.

Griffey’s bill HB 0562, which is being sponsored in the State Senate by Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) as SB 1504, is “calling for the imposition of fees on the transfer of any money from Tennessee to Mexico and calling for the fees generated to be set aside to fund the border wall proposed by Trump,” according to a statement issued Thursday about the bill.

The news prompted a tweet by Laura Ingraham, “YES: Tennessee lawmaker introduces bill he says will help fund Trump’s border wall,” and included a link to a story in The Tennessean with the same title.

If the bill is passed into law, all qualifying transactions after January 1, 2020, would be subject to a $10 per transaction fee plus 10 percent on amounts over $500. Those licensed in the business of money transmissions, referred to as the licensee, can keep a half percent as compensation for accounting and remitting the fee to the state’s Department of Revenue.

The Department of Revenue will retain one percent of the fee for implementation and administration.

The balance will be distributed with 25 percent going to accounts for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Safety for various programs related to money laundering.

The remaining 50 percent will go to a border security account with the Commissioner of Finance and Administration directing funds, to the extent permitted by law, to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “for the purpose of securing the southern border of the United States.”

The bill also stipulates that “any funds that are not permitted to be directed for such purposes under state or federal law, shall be directed instead to the state general fund.”

In the statement, Griffey said, “Trump campaigned in 2015 and 2016 on building a border wall for national security, and Tennesseans overwhelmingly supported Trump with over 60 percent voting him in as President. Over two years later, Congress has failed to provide Trump with funding for his border wall. If Congress is unwilling to act, it is incumbent upon individual states to do so.“

While Tennessee is not a border state, Griffey points out that Tennessee is impacted by the lack of security at the nation’s southern border:

Lack of sufficient security along our southern border has resulted in and continues to result in illegal aliens and drugs pouring into our country and disseminating across the individual states. Tennessee is gravely impacted financially and otherwise. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, illegal immigration in Tennessee cost Tennessee tax payers $793 million in 2017 alone. It is nearly impossible to quantify financially or otherwise the devastation that illegal drugs brought across the border from Mexico has had on Tennesseans. It is time to take decisive action and do something about it.

The text of Representative Griffey’s full statement can be read here:

On Monday, February 4, TN State Representative Bruce Griffey filed House Bill 0562, calling for the imposition of fees on the transfer of any money from Tennessee to Mexico and calling for the fees generated to be set aside to fund the border wall proposed by Trump. Senator Joey Hensley agreed to sponsor the bill in the Senate and filed it on February 7 as Senate Bill 1504.

“Trump campaigned in 2015 and 2016 on building a border wall for national security, and Tennesseans overwhelmingly supported Trump with over 60% voting him in as President. Over 2 years later, Congress has failed to provide Trump with funding for his border wall. If Congress is unwilling to act, it is incumbent upon individual states to do so, “ stated Griffey.

Griffey went on to explain that “lack of sufficient security along our southern border has resulted in and continues to result in illegal aliens and drugs pouring into our country and disseminating across the individual states. Tennessee is gravely impacted financially and otherwise. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, illegal immigration in Tennessee cost Tennessee taxpayers $793 million in 2017 alone. It is nearly impossible to quantify financially or otherwise the devastation that illegal drugs brought across the border from Mexico has had on Tennesseans. It is time to take decisive action and do something about it.”

This is just one of several bills that Griffey and Hensley are pairing up to introduce this legislative session in an effort to combat illegal immigration. “I have filed several caption bills through which I will be pursuing legislation this Spring to curtail the ability of illegal aliens to obtain jobs, housing or benefits in Tennessee. I want to make Tennessee be the very last place that illegal aliens want to come,” stated Griffey. Just last month, Griffey filed a House Joint Resolution (HJR0047), supporting President’s Trump’s efforts to end “birthright” citizenship.

“I am very grateful to Senator Joey Hensley for being willing to stand by my side as a fellow conservative patriot and Trump supporter and serve as the Senate sponsor of my bill,” concluded Griffey.

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Laura Baigert is a senior reporter with The Tennessee Star.
Photo “Joey Hensley (Right)” by Joey Hensley. Photo “Bruce Griffey” by Bruce Griffey.

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