The US Attorney General has issued an order authorizing the forfeiture of property whenever there is conduct that is in violation of federal law more frequently than is currently being done in order to deter criminal activity. From 2007 to 2016, the DEA collected $3.2 billion from civil asset forfeiture.
Civil asset forfeiture is a practice in the US and Canada that allows law enforcement to seize cash and property suspected of being connected to criminal activity. The property owner does not have to be convicted or even charged with a crime to have his or her property seized and forfeited by the government. In the US, local law enforcement agencies can keep 80% of the assets forfeited. Law enforcement has long advocated for increased forfeiture as the only effective tool to combat transnational criminal organizations.