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Seven Unfilled Border Tunnels Concern National Security Officials

By Amy Isackson / Border Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published January 30, 2007 at 12:42 PM PST
This story was published more than 17 years ago.

Seven of the largest drug smuggling tunnels discovered under the U.S. Mexico border have not been completely filled in. Authorities are concerned smugglers could tap into the tunnels and reuse them. K

Seven Unfilled Border Tunnels Concern National Security Officials

(Photo: KPBS reporter Amy Isackson walks through a drug tunnel found last year along the Mexico/USA Border. Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images ).

Seven of the largest drug smuggling tunnels discovered under the U.S. Mexico border have not been completely filled in. Authorities are concerned smugglers could tap into the tunnels and reuse them. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has the story.

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Federal border officials say the tunnels threaten national security. They say terrorists could use the tunnels to sneak weapons of mass destruction under the border into the United States. Yet, the longest tunnel ever discovered has only been partially plugged with concrete.

The tunnel runs from Tijuana a half mile under the fence and pops up inside a San Diego warehouse. Another tunnel nearby has sat partially filled for 13 years. Customs and Border Protection is responsible for closing the tunnels. Spokesman Mike Friel says they don't have the money.

Friel: Depending on the size of the tunnel, the larger tunnels, anywhere between $200,000 to $700,000 to fill on.

Friel says that means about $3 million to fill the seven tunnels. CBP's 2007 budget is almost $8 billion.

Friel says CBP has filled two tunnels since it took on the responsibility in 2003.

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Amy Isackson, KPBS News.

Amy Isackson
Amy Isackson was the border reporter at KPBS from 2004 to 2011. She covered breaking news and feature stories on California-Mexico border issues and immigration, for local and national broadcast. Amy got her start in public radio by pitching a series of stories about rural New Zealand - horse dentistry and sheep sheering - to Radio New Zealand's "Country Life" program. She then worked with Peabody Award-winning radio producers Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson, to help create the Sonic Memorial, a series of stories on the World Trade Center before, during and after 9/11. Amy's work has been recognized with awards from the Associated Press Television-Radio Association of California and Nevada, the California Chicano News Media Association, and the San Diego Press Club. She won the Sol Price Prize for Responsible Journalism in 2009 from the Society of Professional Journalists for her story about high school students smuggling people and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. Prior to venturing into the wonderful world of public radio, Amy worked for Yahoo! Inc. for nearly five years as an editorial surfer, associate producer and broadcast communications manager. She majored in Latin American History at Williams College. She grew up in San Diego and made frequent trips south of the border.
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