Ohio Senate Candidate Mike Gibbons Plans to Have Mexico Pay for Border Wall

Cleveland businessman Mike Gibbons prides himself on being a “conservative outsider.” In an attempt to appease to the anti-Washington D.C./Trump crowd, Gibbons recently put out a release regarding his plans for the Mexican border wall and how to ensure Mexico pays for it.

According to the release, Gibbons’ plan takes into account legal border crossing, rather than fixating on illegal immigrants. Per Gibbons, “Everyday almost 500,000 people legally cross the border from Mexico into the United States. If a toll of $10 was issued for crossing into the United States, the U.S. government would receive $5 million a day or $1.825 billion per year.”

As preposterous as this may sound, his math actually lines up. Gibbons claims his plan comes from his experience as a banker.

“This deal is a no-brainer. It can be constructed in such a way that we can build the wall, have Mexico pay for it, and I believe financing could be done without adding to the national debt.

“Mexico charges tourists approximately $22 to enter,” he said in the release. “They charge between $29.70-$49.50 to bring a vehicle into the country. To fund the U.S. border wall, the United States would have to charge less than half of what Mexico already charges visitors to come into their country.”

For a general comparison, it can cost up to $18.75 to drive across the state of Ohio on the Turnpike.

The Ohio senate candidate has drawn many parallels to Donald Trump running without any formal political experience, but Trump still gave his endorsement to Jim Renacci. Gibbons also served as co-chair for the Trump campaign and wrongly accused Sherrod Brown of promoting communism.

This article appears in Apr 25 – May 1, 2018.