Mexico-California Tunnels Reopened

Many of the tunnels dug by drug cartels and people smugglers underneath the U.S.–Mexican border prior to 2007, and supposedly sealed to prevent reuse, have been brought back into service and are being used once again, it has emerged.

At least six previously discovered border tunnels have been reactivated by Mexican trafficking groups. Since 2006, at least 148 tunnels were built, according to official figures.

The tunnels—which were closed up from the U.S. side, but ineffectually sealed from the Mexican side because of a lack of money and general Second World chaos—appear to be back in business, according to U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials.

The reopening of the tunnels is also being facilitated by the fact that the population on both sides of the border in California and Arizona are now largely Mexican, following a marked increase in legal and illegal immigration over the past ten years.

Read the rest at The New Observer.