Earlier this week, it was revealed that illegal border crossings have declined 40% since Donald J. Trump assumed the presidency in January. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has revealed that the number of illegal border crossings went from 31,578 in January to 18,762 in February, thanks in part to the president’s illegal immigration crackdown.
While it is certainly positive news to see the number of illegal crossings on the decline, that hasn’t stopped individuals from Mexico and other countries from going to great lengths to sneak into our country illegally – and it is up to America’s Border Patrol to stop these entries.
But that’s easier said than done.
A group of agents known as “tunnel rats” are assigned the task of going into “clandestine passages that have proliferated on the U.S.-Mexico border over the past 20 years to smuggle drugs.”
From ABC News:
The Associated Press joined the Border Tunnel Entry Team, as it is formally known, inside an incomplete tunnel that was discovered in San Diego in 2009 — 70 feet deep, 3 feet wide, 2,700 feet long and equipped with a rail system, lighting and ventilation.
Authorities discovered 224 border tunnels originating in Mexico from 1990 to March 2016, including 185 that entered the United States, according to the latest U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration annual survey. Many are shallow holes, but some are elaborately constructed with hydraulic lifts, water pumps and rail cars.
The vast majority are in Arizona, where smugglers connect to underground drainage canals in Nogales, and in California, where construction noise generates less attention amid warehouses of an industrial area of San Diego, across from densely packed homes and businesses in Tijuana.
While individuals can use these tunnels to sneak into the country, the vast majority of the tunnels are used for “multi-ton loads of marijuana because the drug’s bulk and odor are difficult to conceal for motorists and pedestrians who enter the United States at official border crossings, the preferred method for smuggling methamphetamine and heroin.”
Thankfully, the U.S. Border Patrol has revealed that since 2007, “the tunnels have been filled…to prevent smugglers from burrowing into them” but in Mexico “they are sealed but not plugged with concrete.”
Given that these tunnels stretch across two countries, Mexico also has an obligation to properly close these tunnels used to smuggle illegal drugs into this country. The question that arises is what, if any, financial support the United States government should provide Mexico to help them plug these tunnels. President Trump has promised that Mexico will pay for any wall built along the southern border so it’s not inconceivable that they would pay to seal the tunnels used to smuggle drugs into our country.
Are you shocked by the discovery of thousands of underground tunnels used to smuggle drugs into this country? Should the U.S. force Mexico pay to have these tunnels sealed? Share your thoughts below!