Mexican state police, utilizing drone technology, have discovered a tunnel under construction beneath the U.S.-Mexico border in San Luis, Arizona. The tunnel was secured and closed in a joint operation between the Secretariat of Public Security in Sonora and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This marks the third such tunnel found in the Yuma sector this year.
In 2020, authorities found what they described as the “most sophisticated tunnel in U.S. history” in the same area.
In 2018, another tunnel was discovered that extended from a home in Mexico to an abandoned KFC restaurant in San Luis.
These discoveries highlight ongoing efforts by law enforcement to detect and dismantle smuggling tunnels along the border.
In December 2022, former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey had hundreds of double-stacked shipping containers topped with razor wire placed on the state’s border with Mexico in a final effort to secure the boundary before he left office.
However, work on the container wall was paused in response to protests from environmental activists and objections by the federal government, according to the Associated Press.
Federal agencies, including the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Forest Service, have told Arizona the construction on U.S. land is unlawful and it must stop. In response, Ducey sued federal officials in October 2023. The outgoing governor has argued the state holds sole or shared jurisdiction over the 60-foot area at the state’s remote eastern border with Mexico. He said the state has a constitutional right to protect residents from “imminent danger of criminal and humanitarian crises.”
“Arizona is going to do the job that Joe Biden refuses to do — secure the border in any way we can.” Ducey said in announcing the lawsuit last month. “We’re not backing down.”
