Mexican drug cartels are using ever-more sophisticated methods of covering their tracks, including disguising their elaborate drug tunnels with “cover-ups” — or bogus storefronts on the US side of the border.
The smugglers have stepped up their efforts in the wake of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration and narcotics trafficking at the southern border, equipping tunnels with rail and cart systems to quickly shuttle their illicit wares into the US undetected.
A National Guard agent inspects an illegal tunnel bound to El Paso in US, at the Mexico-US border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Jan. 18, 2025. AFP via Getty ImagesFormer DEA Senior Special Agent Michael Brown told Fox News Digital that the agency has been blowing up any such tunnels it discovers to make them impassable, but that additional resources are needed to root out the growing number of “cover-ups” popping up on the US side.
“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 said.
“It’s hard to identify that in Eagle Pass or Brownsville [Texas].”
Members of the US Border Enforcement Security Task Force talk to workers as they use concrete to seal an illegal tunnel bound for El Paso in the US at the Mexico-US border in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico on Jan. 16, 2025. AFP via Getty Images
A worker is seen where Mexican authorities close an illegal tunnel that was discovered on the U.S.-Mexico border, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Jan. 28, 2025. REUTERSBrown points out that although their use among Mexican drug traffickers has picked up recently, their use dates back to the Vietnam war, and more recently, Hamas’ elaborate maze of underground 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 told the outlet.
“Well, the cartels have billions of dollars.”
US workers use concrete to seal an illegal tunnel bound for El Paso in the US, at the Mexico-US border in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico on Jan. 16, 2025. AFP via Getty ImagesSome of the tunnels operate more like “underground cities” than mere holes in the ground, outfitted with amenities like office space, air ducts, weapons caches and railway tracks, Brown said.
Migrant sightings at the southern border have sharply dipped since President Trump’s inauguration, averaging just 1,041 daily encounters between Jan. 20-26 compared to 2,869 between Jan. 13-19.
