CBP reveals cartels still smuggling humans and narcotics in El Paso
Fox News exposes El Paso drainage system used for immigrant smuggling
Brooke Taylor uncovers the underground storm drainage system of El Paso, Texas, a secret world used by cartels to illegally transport immigrants from Mexico to the United States. Taylor emphasizes the extreme danger and harsh conditions in the hot, dark and narrow tunnels. Smugglers now charge migrants a premium fee of $20,000 to $30,000 to pass through these closed areas.
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Despite President Donald Trump’s tight clampdown on the border, cartels continue to smuggle people and narcotics by going underground using El Paso’s vast network of sewer tunnels.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) elite Confined Space Entry Team gave Fox News an exclusive look inside the narrow tunnels that stretch for miles across the region.
There are 32 entry points into the tunnels from the Rio Grande and hundreds of exit points throughout the city. This makes patrolling the tunnels a game of “whack-a-mole” because smugglers can pop out of the sewers at any moment, the team said. It is much more difficult for Border Patrol agents to detect and capture smugglers who use these clandestine routes, according to CBP. Still, they use technology to detect movement underground, monitor entry points, and strategically position teams to stop groups.
The biggest challenge was the heat and the time spent in the thick, low-oxygen air of the tunnels, a team member told Fox News. Most of the time when they encounter a cartel trafficker, “you’re already exhausted and now you’re going to have to fight someone potentially underground,” he said.
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A U.S. Border Patrol agent works at the border to shut down an illegal cross-border tunnel first discovered on January 10, 2025, between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on March 11, 2025. (HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
“You can’t ask for support; you can’t ask for help. It’s just you and your team against everyone else,” he said.
Team members said the number of immigrants smuggled through tunnels has dropped significantly during the Trump era. While groups of 40 to 60 people regularly moved through the tunnels, agents now often encounter two or three people at a time.
Still, smugglers have not stopped completely. Reports show that cartels have significantly increased fees for would-be illegal immigrants to use tunnel routes, with immigrants paying $20,000 to $30,000 per person to be guided through underground routes.
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Mexican police work to close and secure a secret tunnel discovered on the border between Mexico and the United States on January 13, 2025 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The tunnel, used for drug and human trafficking, was secured by Mexican National Guard and Attorney General’s staff who collected evidence before sealing it permanently. (David Peinado/Anadolu via Getty Images)
CBP also said smugglers are increasingly using social media to recruit and train guides to navigate dangerous passages. Underground conditions are hazardous due to poor air quality and intense heat, and daytime summer temperatures in El Paso often exceed 100 degrees.
To prepare for this mission, the elite CBP team undergoes special training to work underground, monitor oxygen levels and navigate tunnels.
Fox News obtained this exclusive look as the Department of Homeland Security announced this week that June marked 14 consecutive months of zero emissions at the border, continuing what it touted as an “unprecedented trend of historically low border crossings.”
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO – JANUARY 14: American authorities, Border Patrol agents and Texas National Guard search the area of the tunnel between Juarez and El Paso on January 14, 2025 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. On the Mexican side, two agents and a National Guard patrol car guard the entrance to the tunnel, which is secured by the State Investigation Agency, while on the American side, there are six Border Patrol agents. A dozen agents were surveying the border along with trucks supported by a machine that passed over the concrete near where the tunnel was located. ((Photo: Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images))
According to DHS, daily arrests at the border are down 94 percent compared to the Biden administration.
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Meanwhile, the agency announced that CBP broke staffing records this spring, reaching 21,471 agents, the highest number in the agency’s 102-year history.
Fox News Digital’s Leo Briceno contributed to this report.
