A secret tunnel discovered last week on the U.S.-Mexico border will be sealed by Mexican authorities, an army official in Ciudad Juarez said Saturday.
The tunnel, discovered on Jan. 10, connects the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez with the Texas city of El Paso. On the Mexican side, it measures about 1,000 feet and is equipped with lighting, ventilation and reinforced to prevent collapses, officials said.
Hidden in a storm sewer system operating between both cities, its access is about 6 feet high and 4 feet wide, making for easy passage of people or contraband, said General Jose Lemus, commander of Ciudad Juarez’s military garrison, which is guarding the tunnel.
Victor Manjarrez, a former Border Patrol sector chief with over 20 years of experience, told CBS affiliate KDBC that connecting the tunnel through the storm sewer system is a common practice among smugglers.
“This is definitely not a mom-and-pop operation at all. It’s gone way beyond that,” he added.
Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images
Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images
An investigation into its construction is underway, officials said.
The tunnel’s construction “must have taken a long time… it could have been one or two years,” Lemus told reporters, declining to give details about how long it had been operating as well as its possible builders and operators.
He said the Mexican Attorney General’s Office was responsible for the investigation and would be in charge of determining if there was complicity by the authorities due to the fact that it was built without them noticing.
Lemus also said clues about the tunnel’s existence and location were discussed by human traffickers on social media platforms like TikTok.
Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images
Ahead of the U.S. presidential inauguration of Donald Trump on Monday, both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border have reinforced security measures, as the returning Republican has vowed a massive deportation of migrants soon after he takes office.
In the state of Chihuahua, which includes Ciudad Juarez, authorities reported a fire in a temporary camp for undocumented migrants, which led to the evacuation of 39 adults and 17 minors, according to the state police.
According to the Mexican newspaper Reforma, the fire was started by some of the migrants who were camping there to resist attempts by immigration authorities to detain them and transfer them to Mexico City for later deportation.
The National Institute of Migration did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.
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