A massive tunnel was dug to funnel drugs and other contraband into the U.S. between Tijuana and San Diego. U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION
THE WATCH STAFF
As the United States secures operational control of its southern border, transnational criminal organizations (TCO) have adopted more sophisticated methods to evade added scrutiny and heightened enforcement on both sides of the 3,145-kilometer frontier in recent months. The U.S. Army now flies counter-drone surveillance along the border, which has been strengthened with about 10,000 troops under the control of U.S. Northern Command. On Mexico’s side, thousands of troops have been deployed to the border since late 2023 to more effectively stem the flows of illegal trafficking of humans, drugs and other contraband. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration has stepped up efforts to battle TCOs, with several high-profile drug busts in Sinaloa. Sheinbaum recently credited her policy with a drastic drop in fentanyl being seized on the U.S. side. To evade these bolstered defenses, the Mexican cartels have begun to double down on an old trick: tunnels.
One such subterranean passage was uncovered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in the San Diego sector. In early April 2025, agents with the sector’s tunnel team discovered the passageway beneath the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, which is about 13 kilometers east of the Pacific Ocean.
Subsequent investigations located the Mexican entrance in a house in the Nueva Tijuana neighborhood of Tijuana in June. The tunnel’s entrance was hidden by freshly laid tile. Mexican authorities helped unmask the tunnel, which stretched for a kilometer and burrowed more than 15 meters below ground. The tunnel was ventilated, electrified and outfitted with a track system to transport large amounts of drugs, CBP said in a June 18 news release.
Agents found barricades throughout the tunnel to hinder U.S. agents’ ability to traverse toward Mexico, the Washington Examiner newspaper reported. “As we continue to strengthen the nation’s air and maritime border security, it’s not surprising that foreign terrorist organizations would resort to underground routes,” Jeffrey Stalnaker, acting chief patrol agent of the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector, said in the CBP statement. “Disruption of narcotics smuggling tunnels is critical to protecting American lives.”
The tunnel was intended to have a final exit point inside a U.S. commercial warehouse near the border. Since 1993, federal law enforcement has located and destroyed 95 tunnels in the San Diego sector, the CBP stated. This tunnel will also be destroyed. “Contractors will pour thousands of gallons of concrete into the tunnel, preventing the tunnel from use by Foreign Terrorist Organizations,” the release stated.