Just recently, Ted Cruz proposed using assets confiscated from El Chapo and other criminals to pay for the wall.  It was met with high fives all around, at least on the right.  Alas, there is a chronic shortage of billionaire criminals in custody.  But there is a bumper crop of employers who hire illegal immigrants.  They could easily pay for ten walls.

Four years ago, American Thinker was kind enough to publish my article on immigration reform.  The main recommendation I made was to augment the penalties on companies that employ illegal immigrants with a tax or fine or fee of around $5.00 per hour (or more) for each such employee.  It occurs to me that if it were adopted, the revenue could be initially earmarked to pay for the wall.  A million full-time employees would raise around $10 billion each year.  Once the wall is paid for, the money could fund many other useful programs, or just be used to lower the deficit.

This is not the Mexican government writing us a check, but it would come primarily from the labor of Mexican citizens.  That should satisfy most Americans while not embarrassing the Mexican government.

On a related topic, visas for highly skilled workers, how about a quarterly auction for the H-1B visas or whatever is needed to legally hire such "talent"?  The cost should reflect the true market value of these people and level the playing field for qualified American talent.