A pro-migrant activist from the Mexican Ciudad Juárez, border with the United States, assured this Tuesday that the clandestine tunnel discovered last Friday under the Rio Grande (Rio Grande in the US) and that connects Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua (Mexico) with El Paso, Texas, had been operating for more than a year.
“(The tunnel) has been around for a long time, more than a year, they (the migrants) talked a lot about this hole, this tunnel,” Cristina Coronado, coordinator of the Human Mobility Pastoral of the diocese of Ciudad Juárez, told the media.
“I don’t know why (the authorities) took so long to act; Migrants put themselves at risk by crossing like this. Really, what does a migrant do in a space like this, without documents? “It is a high risk,” he added.
Given the imminent inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the United States next Monday, he said that anxiety and fear among migrants have increased.
“No matter how much we give them information to wait for their appointment, desperation leads them to look for other alternatives,” said Coronado.
Tunnel Finding
Meanwhile, through the video platform TikTok, a user shared images of alleged migrants crossing through the tunnel, and in one of them a group of migrants appears commenting that they had crossed through a tunnel bound for Albuquerque, thanking a person for having gotten there.
The clandestine tunnel supposedly built for the trafficking of people, drugs and illicit goods was discovered under the bed of the Rio Grande and according to authorities it was allegedly operated by the criminal group ‘La Línea’, dedicated to migrant trafficking.
This Tuesday, Army and National Guard agents restricted the area to continue investigations, while inspections are carried out to determine the magnitude of the operational network behind the passage.
The discovery of the clandestine passage occurred last Friday and is located below the natural border between both countries, at the height of gate 28, and according to the first versions the tunnel connects to the sewers and drainage of El Paso, where they appeared migrants and traffickers to enter the suburbs of the American city.
According to preliminary reports, the structure, approximately 40 meters long, was located thanks to information provided by an anonymous whistleblower, allowing authorities to deploy specialized search teams.
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Construction tools were found at the site, such as shovels, pickaxes and axes, as well as flashlights, blowtorches and communication radios that were removed from the tunnel by Mexican and American authorities.
On Monday, Francisco Sáenz, representative of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) of Chihuahua, told the media that the institution sent the file of the investigation into the discovery of the tunnel to the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), which is the authorized agency. to investigate migrant trafficking.
“Preliminarily, it is known that stormwater infrastructure (old drains) in both cities was used and from there the connection was made. Also, it is known that it was an infrastructure that has ventilation and lighting, and was used mainly for migrant trafficking,” said Sáenz.
Ciudad Juárez, one of the main migration routes, faces growing pressure to control illicit activities, highlighting the urgent need to reinforce security in the region.
With information from EFE.
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