Border Patrol Reports 161 Migrants Apprehended in El Paso Storm Drains This Year

U.S. Border Patrol agents in El Paso have identified a network of storm drains beneath the city as a route used by Mexican cartels to smuggle migrants into the United States, Fox News reported. The agency granted Fox News exclusive access to the system alongside the El Paso Sector’s Confined Space Entry Team.

The drains stretch for miles under El Paso and contain 32 known entry points from the Rio Grande. Hundreds of exit points open into neighborhoods, parks, and commercial areas, including schools and elementary schools, according to Jason Hartman, who leads the Confined Space Entry Team.

Smugglers and migrants take 45 minutes to one hour to travel through the hot, tight passages where oxygen levels can drop without warning.

Fox News observed tools, a wallet, and a Mexican driver’s license left near one entrance. Border Patrol uses technology to detect movement inside the network, Hartman said. Agents have apprehended 161 migrants who used the drains so far this fiscal year.

At the height of the border crisis, agents sometimes encountered groups of up to 70 migrants inside the system, Hartman said. Groups of two or three are now more common. Smugglers charge between $20,000 and $30,000 per person to guide migrants through the drains, Border Patrol stated.

"Cartels are desperate to try to get people in," said Hamid Nikseresht, a U.S. Border Patrol Special Operations supervisor.