A secret tunnel under the U.S.-Mexico border, discovered last week, will be closed by Mexican and U.S. authorities when Donald Trump, a longtime immigration hardliner, takes power on Monday.
The tunnel, found on January 9 and hidden in a sewer system, stretches all the way from Ciudad Juarez to the Texas city of El Paso and there are indications that it may have been used by human traffickers, CBS reported.
On the Mexican side, the tunnel measures about 1,000 feet (300 meters) and is equipped with lighting, ventilation and reinforcement to prevent collapses, Mexican officials said. U.S. officials said a similar level of sophistication was present on the Texas side.
Gen. Jose Lemus, commander of the Ciudad Juarez military garrison, said the tunnel is 6 feet high and 4 feet wide, making it easy to pass people or contraband between the two nations.
Lemus said the tunnel's existence and location was alluded to by human smugglers on social media platforms including TikTok, which was briefly banned in the US on Saturday.
Victor Manjarrez, a former U.S. Border Patrol sector chief with more than two decades of experience, hinted to a local CBS affiliate that this tunnel was likely built by human traffickers.
According to him, connecting a tunnel through a storm sewer is a common tactic among these criminals.
“It's actually the most common way,” Manjarrez said. “Most of the tunnels, that's over, I want to say it's about 230, 240 tunnels along the southwest border since '91. Most of them are connected to some kind of infrastructure in the US.”
A Mexican National Guard agent is pictured inspecting the secret tunnel likely used by human traffickers
It has lighting, ventilation and is reinforced to prevent collapses. General Jose Lemus estimated that construction took one to two years
The photo shows American workers sealing the tunnel with concrete from the El Paso side
The tunnel stretches all the way from Ciudad Juarez to the city of El Paso in Texas (photo)
Manjarrez said building on top of existing infrastructure is the cheapest way to accomplish something like this.
“This is definitely not a mom-and-pop operation. It has gone much further than that,” he added.
An investigation has been launched into exactly how the tunnel was constructed and by whom, officials said.
Lemus estimated that the tunnel could have taken one or two years to build, although he declined to provide information on possible suspects.
He said the Mexican Attorney General's office will be responsible for investigating whether or not the tunnel was built with the complicity of certain Mexican authorities, as it appears to have been built without their noticing.
U.S. Border Patrol agents stationed in El Paso were the first to discover the tunnel, according to a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“We are proud of the agents who uncovered this smuggling infrastructure used by transnational criminal organizations,” said El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Anthony Scott Good. “Our agents are relentless in searching and inspecting every square mile of the El Paso sector.”
El Paso border agents will work with the Mexican government and numerous state and local agencies to investigate the tunnel. The FBI also plans to assist in the investigation.
The photo shows Mexican authorities investigating the opening to the tunnel, which was hidden with wooden panels
The discovery of the tunnel comes just as Donald Trump is poised to retake the White House
This comes just as President-elect Trump is poised to retake the White House after winning over voters, in part with his messaging on immigration.
During the campaign, he promised on day one to launch “the largest criminal deportation program in America's history.”
He renewed that promise on Sunday during a pre-inauguration meeting in Washington DC.
'These are rough people [coming over the border] and they're leaving our country – they're gone,” Trump insisted.
He continued: “The border security measures I will outline in my inaugural address tomorrow will be the most aggressive, sweeping effort to repair our borders that the world has ever seen.”
Trump and his allies planned to begin large-scale immigration raids in Chicago, but other cities, such as New York and Miami, could soon see arrests and deportations.
But as these plans appear to have been leaked to the media, border czar Tom Homan said the new government is reconsidering its path forward.
“We are investigating this leak and will make a decision based on this leak,” Homan said. “It's unfortunate because anyone who leaks law enforcement operations puts officers in grave danger.”
Trump's team has yet to specify how he will carry out the massive nationwide effort, with an estimated millions of migrants living here illegally.
