Mexican drug cartels are increasingly using cross-border tunnels and sewer systems to smuggle migrants into the United States as the Trump administration pushes to reduce illegal crossings to near zero, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The shift comes as apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border have fallen to historic lows. U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded an average of about 400 migrant apprehensions per day in July, compared with thousands daily during the 2022 surge. At times, the figure has dropped to around 200.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, a leading architect of President Donald Trump's immigration policies, has been pressing U.S. officials for additional measures to reduce crossings further and has directed authorities to increase investigations into smuggling networks, the Times reported, citing people familiar with the discussions.
As surveillance, barriers and enforcement have increased, smugglers are adapting routes previously used primarily for narcotics. Some tunnels now connect directly with drainage and sewer systems, allowing migrants to emerge farther inside the United States.
"Enforcement along the border has become more robust and that has increased the demand for alternative methods of passage," David Shirk, director of the Justice in Mexico program at the University of San Diego, told the LA Times.
In May, authorities found 19 migrants, including three unaccompanied minors, emerging from a storm-water drainage system in San Diego. Another tunnel running beneath the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juárez into El Paso connected with the city's sewer network. Migrants reportedly surfaced through a manhole into a waiting truck.
Smugglers can charge Latin American migrants as much as $15,000 to use tunnels into El Paso, according to an official cited by the Times, while migrants from the Middle East or Southeast Asia can pay up to $25,000.
The changing smuggling methods come as fewer migrants attempt to reach the border at all. Reuters reported Tuesday that migrant shelters in Ciudad Juárez are operating at roughly 15% occupancy, with some migrants who once planned to enter the United States instead settling in Mexico.
Border Patrol is also shifting resources as conventional crossings decline. El País reported last week that apprehensions have fallen 95% from 2023 levels, allowing agents to devote more attention to highway checkpoints and maritime patrols aimed at finding migrants who evade detection at the border.
