The tunnel rats of Nogales

Washington Post:

They call themselves the Tunnel Rats. Trained in close-quarter combat, psychologically certified to work in confined spaces and armed to the teeth, these four-member teams of Border Patrol agents monitor an elaborate underground warren of dark and dangerous storm drains that crisscross these twin downtowns along the border.

Lately, the Tunnel Rats have been busy.

In the past nine months, they have discovered 16 new tunnels dug by smugglers in Nogales to move drugs, migrants, cash and weapons between Mexico and the United States. The number of tunnels sets a new record. A Border Patrol official calls the burst of subterranean activity "startling."

"It's Swiss cheese under there," said Brooke Howells, a supervisory Border Patrol agent and a tunnel teams leader. "They're constantly burrowing. If you are a smuggler, a working tunnel can be a very lucrative enterprise."

The digging has become so extensive beneath Nogales that the southbound traffic lane through the international port of entry collapsed.

"Before that, the parking lot at the customs office caved in," Howells said. "They collapse all the time."

The tunnelers pop up all over town. Border Patrol agents report that it is not uncommon to see a manhole cover suddenly lift during rush hour and men run out of the hole.

The passageways come up through rental house floors, in abandoned stores and in back yards. Agents have found exits near a taco stand, a Chinese restaurant and the local Burger King.

...

The smugglers also tie into the extensive storm drain systems under the cities. I wonder if seismic monitors used in the hunt for oil and gas might help the Border Patrol find the illegal tunnels.

This is just another example of how important the work of the Border Patrol is in stopping the illegal entry into the US. It is also an example of how determined the Mexican criminal insurgency is to get its products into the US.