Mexican drug cartels have outfitted dozens of tunnels with rail and cart methods to whisk medication beneath the US border, posing a serious problem for the Trump administration as it really works to curb the circulation of unlawful narcotics into the nation.
The US Drug and Enforcement Company (DEA) experiences that the majority illicit medication within the US are smuggled through autos at southern border entry factors, however some enter by means of cross-border tunnels and subterranean passageways.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to cease the circulation of unlawful medication within the US, introducing a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico.
In accordance with the Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse, an estimated 107,941 folks within the U.S. died from a drug-involved overdose in 2022.
Former DEA Senior Particular Agent Michael Brown, who’s the worldwide director of counter-narcotics expertise at Rigaku Analytical Units, advised Fox Information Digital that the company blows up the drug trafficking tunnels to make them impassable.
Brown mentioned DEA and Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) personnel should intensify their investigations into underground tunnels to find “cover-ups” of the tunnels’ US exits.
“Cover-ups” are seemingly regular storefronts or warehouses used to cover tunnel entrances and exits.
“They (the cartels) move hundreds of kilos out and build a warehouse over the tunnel and call it Joe’s Pizza shop or Jose’s mechanic shop,” Brown mentioned.
“It’s hard to identify that in Eagle Pass or Brownsville [in Texas].”
The previous DEA agent mentioned that if correctly managed, federal authorities can determine sources to disclose the tunnels’ places and doable US connections.
“Instead of trying to recruit an individual, say, ‘We’ll pay you a certain amount of money for information,’” Brown mentioned.
Since Trump’s return to the White Home, border crossings have plummeted.
There have been 7,287 migrant encounters on the southern border within the first seven days (Jan. 20-26) after Trump’s inauguration by each Border Patrol between ports of entry and by the Workplace of Subject Operations at ports of entry, with a every day common of 1,041 encounters a day.
That compares to twenty,086 encounters within the last seven days of the Biden administration (Jan. 13-19) previous to Trump’s inauguration, averaging 2,869 encounters a day.
“It’s amazing,” Brown mentioned, talking of the drop of border encounters. “The tunnels, though, represent a significant problem.”
Subterranean passageways are usually not a brand new phenomenon. Brown pointed to the usage of tunnels through the Vietnam Warfare and, extra lately, Hamas’ labyrinth of tunnels in Gaza.
“Cartels have more money than Hamas, when you think about it. And, you know, it took hundreds of millions of dollars in aid money to build those tunnels,” he mentioned.
“Well, the cartels have billions of dollars.”
He famous that tunnels are usually not easy underground holes however reasonably difficult “underground cities” full with air ducts, workplace area, weapon stashes and railway tracks.
Brown mentioned he doesn’t imagine the US would go to the identical size because the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) did when destroying the tunnels.
Following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel, the IDF set its sights on dismantling the terrorist group’s internet of tunnels. In a single occasion, the IDF mentioned they pumped water into the tunnels and flooded them.
“The US would never blow up a school under any circumstances,” he mentioned. “But if we had a 9/11 every day like Israel, I think American attitudes would change.”
Fox Information Digital has reached out to the DEA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and HSI for remark.
Fox Information Digital’s Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
