Beneath El Paso: Exposing the Extensive Cartel Human Smuggling Network beneath the Border Town
SUMMARY
While the Biden administration's border crisis blazes on, a new frontier has opened up in the battle between illegals and United States Border Patrol.
STORY
Mexican cartels and organized crime syndicates are using El Paso's extensive network of underground storm drains to smuggle illegal aliens into the United States.
El Paso's storm drain system, which spans over 300 miles and is designed to manage street runoff, is being exploited by smugglers and used as a subterranean highway to transport illegals into the country, bypassing traditional smuggling routes.
Those being smuggled from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, through the El Paso drain system, include children as young as five, who are often forced into these drains by the smugglers.
These transnational criminal organizations charge them thousands of dollars, promising them entry into the U.S. However, this dangerous journey doesn't always go as planned. Border Patrol Agent Efrain Mercado explained how many of the illegals are often abandoned by the smugglers, without knowing how to navigate the complex drainage system beneath the city.
“A lot of these migrants are scared. They don’t know where they are going. They just push them in, give them their blessing sometimes, and they are on their own.”
USBP is now tasked with entering the dangerous storm drain system beneath El Paso to look for individuals trying to enter the country illegally and to save others who may be deserted and lost within its corridors.
"We've gotten some increase in the tunnel entries. So we sweep them or check them constantly to make sure nobody's using them."
