U.S.-Mexico Border Tunnels Seen as Terrorism Risk

New federal legislation would send people to prison for up to 20 years for constructing or funding secret tunnels under the U.S.-Mexico border, USA Today reported today.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she pushed the idea after touring one tunnel beneath California’s border with Mexico.

Federal agents have found at least 35 such passageways since Sept. 11, 2001, according to USA Today.

“It’s a transnational threat,” said Lt. Col. Steve Baker, an Army engineer involved in the tunnel search. “You don’t know that they’re just bringing drugs through there.”

One large tunnel below the Otay Mesa section of San Diego is believed to have taken more than a year to build and probably required sophisticated engineering and substantial funding, USA Today reported. That suggests that drug smugglers financed the passageway, said Special Agent Frank Marwood of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Agents tested the tunnel for radiation and biohazards but found no evidence that weapons of mass destruction had been brought through the passage, USA Today reported (William Welch, USA Today, March 2).