Homeland Security officials are searching for the creator of an underground tunnel that runs from Mexico under the U.S. border into El Paso, Texas.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Friday that Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officers discovered an “artificial smuggling tunnel” while inspecting a storm drain. press release. The agency said the tunnel, which has electrical and ventilation equipment, is used by “criminal organizations” to smuggle illegal border crossers into the country.
The findings highlight the dire situation along the U.S.-Mexico border, which President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will convey to President-elect Donald Trump, policy experts said in the Daily. -Told the Caller News Foundation.
“Tunnels have always been a feature of the border, but Mr. Biden and Mr. Mayorkas took their eye off the ball as they diverted much of the Pentagon’s resources to bringing in and processing illegal aliens,” the Heritage Institute on Immigration said. said senior researcher Simon Hankinson. the foundation said in an email to DCNF.
Officials said the 6-foot-tall and 4-foot-wide structure was constructed over the past year and called the discovery “historic,” KTSM said. reported. CBP said federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and the Mexican government are working to locate and arrest the construction contractor. (Related: Immigration is a cash cow for Latin America; President Trump’s crackdown could destroy the party)
“The only possible need for a tunnel would be to bring in the worst kind of traffic – people, drugs, guns – into the United States. [things] The cartels don’t want to see the light of day,” Hankinson said.
Investigators discovered a suspected drug smuggling tunnel near the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona last month, and a third tunnel was reported near the state in 2024. According to To Newsweek. HSI also discovered a tunnel that will extend 1,744 feet between California and Mexico in 2022.
Video: Shocking discovery of border tunnel – complete with electricity and ventilation – deadly crisis revealed
A sophisticated man-made tunnel with electricity and ventilation has been discovered beneath the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas.
This surprising discovery… pic.twitter.com/4WfPYUMVRI
— Wesley Hunt (@WesleyHuntTX) January 12, 2025
Ammon Blair, a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and a former Border Patrol agent, also said the Biden administration has exacerbated the tunnel problem by admitting record numbers of migrants.
Prime Minister Blair told the DCNF: “By focusing efforts on the ‘safe, orderly, humane and regular’ importation of foreign nationals rather than the security and protection of the American people and sovereignty, the administration has It created a rift,” he said in an email.
Prime Minister Blair added that a lack of surveillance on private land near the border and the evolving techniques of drug cartels were making it difficult for investigators to spot threats.
“Anyone who wanted to enter the United States illegally under the Biden administration with no criminal or immigration history could easily do so,” Hankinson told DCNF.
“Let’s hope the Trump administration does a better job of keeping us safe,” Hankinson said.
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