A dozen illegal immigrants were caught trying to sneak into the country using storm drains in Texas’ sixth largest city.
Photos shared by authorities show an open manhole, revealing many people inside the sewer system.
Border Patrol agents were tipped off to the migrants’ presence in the West Texas tunnels last week Wednesday when they saw two people, suspected smugglers, exiting the tunnels and running back to Mexico, the agency told the DailyMail.com.
For the last year and a half, El Paso had been ground zero for the border crisis — which has already seen 188,778 migrants enter the country illegally in the month of October alone.
In recent months, encounters of illegal immigrants in El Paso have fallen, making it the fourth busiest spot along the southern border of the US.
A dozen illegal immigrants were discovered sneaking into El Paso, Texas through the city’s underground storm drain tunnels Wednesday
In February, the El Paso Fire Department was forced to saw open a man hole leading to the city’s storm tunnel system to rescue migrants who were trapped
Smugglers will lead illegal immigrants who have paid to be trafficked into the country into storm tunnels, but the smugglers will not navigate the tunnels themselves, as they’re considered too dangerous.
The agency slammed the cartel’s ‘cruel smuggling practices’ that can ‘lead to possible injury or even death.’
‘Migrants also face the possibility of drowning or suffocation as some of these storm drains are only a few inches in diameter and pose a threat to migrants as they could become trapped with limited access to air,’ a spokesman explained.
El Paso, which sits directly on the US-Mexico border, has storm water openings that lead to the Rio Grande. The river serves as the international boundary between the US and Mexico.
Cartels will break into the necessary storm openings, which are welded shut, to sneak unknown and unvetted people into the Lone Star State.
A camera set up in El Paso’s storm system alerted Border Patrol agents to the presence of illegal immigrants in the tunnels in June
In the June incident, Border Patrol agents also found oxygen tanks to aid smugglers and migrants in case there was loss of air and tools to break into the storm drains, the agency confirmed
The Border Patrol’s Confined Space Entry Team is tasked with entering into the tunnels underneath El Paso and catching illegal immigrants who use the storm drain system to evade authorities.
‘The El Paso storm drain system is very large and complex & often transports toxic and hazardous substances that pose serious health risks,’ tweeted Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector Chief Anthony ‘Scott’ Good.
In the latest incident, after agents saw the smugglers running back into Mexico, they alerted the department’s Confined Space Entry Team of a possible illegally entry.
The team found the migrants, who were from the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Mexico in the sewer system near the El Paso Zoo.
They were all taken into custody for illegally entering the US.
Aside from drowning risk, migrants can also get lost in the tunnel or have no way of getting out.
In a previous rescue in February, a manhole leading to El Paso’s streets had to be sewed open by the city’s fire department to allow migrants who are trapped to get out.
In that incident, 17 suspected illegal immigrants were apprehended.