The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began the process to allocate $100 million to locate and destroy cross-border tunnels typically used to smuggle goods and people.
Yahoo News noted that the department this week released a solicitation for the contract to expand its Cross Border Tunnel Threat program.
Authorities noted it is designed to “provide continuous detection capabilities in high-risk areas,” including finding tunnels and detecting where they cross the border.
Agents added that the Persistent Surveillance and Detection System (PDS) can also be used to “forecast the trajectory of a detected tunnel to the suspected entrance on the Mexican or Canadian side of the border, and to estimate the subsurface path to the exit point on the U.S. side of the border.”
The contract is set to be awarded in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2026 to expand operations in California and different points in the southwest border. The project is set to end on December 31, 2026.
Several tunnels have been located throughout southern U.S. over the past years. The latest one, although unfinished, was found underneath a vape shop in Texas.
Officials told NewsNation in late September that the 25-foot-deep tunnel was located inside a vape shop in Laredo while authorities where conducting an operation targeting such shops across the country.
In late June, two people were indicted in an investigation regarding a tunnel connecting Mexico‘s Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas, that was found earlier this year.
According to Border report, the development was communicated by Jason Stevens, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso. He told Sen. Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that the matter is still under investigation and that two people have been indicted so far.
Border Patrol also communicated earlier this year that it disabled another tunnel that crossed the southern border and sought to be used for smuggling purposes.
The tunnel was found in early April while still under construction. It passed underneath the Otay Mesa Port of Entry and connected Tijuana and San Diego, U.S. Customs and Border Protection detailed. Its projected exit point would be near or inside a commercial warehouse space in San Diego.
Originally published on Latin Times
