Border Patrol agents shut down massive drug smuggling tunnel between Tijuana and San Diego
U.S. Border Patrol agents recently discovered and disabled a nearly 3,000-foot-long narcotics smuggling tunnel sitting beneath the US-Mexico border.
Agents found the tunnel — which linked Tijuana and San Diego — in early April while it was actively under construction.
The underground passageway ran under part of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry and had a projected exit point near or inside a commercial warehouse space in San Diego, according to an announcement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Upon entering the "highly sophisticated" tunnel, authorities were met with barricades seemingly placed to prevent law enforcement from finding its entrance, the announcement noted.
The tunnel — which reached depths of around 50 feet underground at its deepest point — measured 2,918 feet long, 42 inches tall and 28 inches wide. It was equipped with lighting, electrical wiring, ventilation systems and a track system for transporting large amounts of contraband.
Border Patrol agents — working alongside Homeland Security Investigations and Government of Mexico authorities — found the entrance point to the tunnel on Monday inside a house in the Nueva Tijuana neighborhood in Tijuana. The entrance had recently been covered up with freshly laid tile, according to the announcement.
Thousands of gallons of concrete will soon be poured into the tunnel to prevent it from being used by Foreign Terrorist Organizations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection noted.
"As we continue to strengthen the nation's air and maritime border security, it's not surprising that foreign terrorist organizations would resort to underground routes," Jeffrey D. Stalnaker, acting chief patrol agent of the San Diego Sector, said in a statement. "Disruption of narcotics smuggling tunnels is critical to protecting American lives."
More than 95 tunnels have been decommissioned in the San Diego area since 1993.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
LA riots proved Trump right – but he learned a hard lesson about immigration
LA riots proved Trump right – but he learned a hard lesson about immigration | Opinion You can't deport 11 million hardworking immigrants. You can deport the much smaller subgroup of bad guys who commit serious crimes. Show Caption Hide Caption Sen. Alex Padilla physically removed from DHS news conference Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla was forced out and handcuffed at a Homeland Security news conference in Los Angeles. The 2025 Los Angeles ICE raids and riots quickly faded from national news due to escalating tensions in the Middle East. The raids highlighted the difficulty of deporting undocumented immigrants, a challenge faced by previous administrations. Public opinion, including among Latinos, disapproves of both the riots and the Trump administration's handling of the raids. California's increasing cost of living and housing, driven by taxation and regulation, is pushing out residents, particularly the working class. The most interesting aspect of the 2025 Los Angeles immigration raids and riots is how quickly they vanished from the news. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, had just punched his 15 minutes of fame on June 12 when the Israeli air force took off for Tehran and whispers of World War III wiped LA from the national consciousness. Padilla was back on the U.S. Senate floor five days later trying to reprise the impromptu speech he gave after the Trump FBI ran him out of a Homeland Security news conference and handcuffed him on the floor. But his words were lost in the torrent of news flashes from the Middle East. Americans were talking about bunker busters and missile defense, the Mullahs and Bibi. Burning Waymos had become an afterthought. Trump can't deport all immigrants, try as he might In those few smoke-filled days, however, Los Angeles had reaffirmed a long established truth in this country: It's a lot easier to bring migrants into America than to push them out. If the Trump administration had ambitions of deporting every last one of the 11 million-plus undocumented immigrants now in the United States – and don't put it past White House aide Stephen Miller to believe he can do that – today the president is the wiser. He has to be. Right? For a moment, it looked like President Donald Trump would backtrack from deporting undocumented farm and hospitality workers, but already facing a MAGA insurrection on Iran, he quickly reversed, yet again. But Trump has to know. There isn't enough time, money, federal officers or political capital to repeat for much longer what happened in Los Angeles. History is clear: Americans won't stand for it You can deport violent offenders by the millions, as the Obama administration proved over and over, but you'll never deport the millions of migrants whose only crime was to cross the U.S.-Mexico border to partake in American prosperity. History keeps teaching that lesson: 'Operation Wetback,' 1954. The program to deport Mexican workers is short-lived and highly controversial, even in the Eisenhower era. The program to deport Mexican workers is short-lived and highly controversial, even in the Eisenhower era. California Proposition 187, 1994. The successful ballot measure to cut off migrants from social services ends in its obliteration by the courts. The California Republican Party slinks into irrelevancy. The successful ballot measure to cut off migrants from social services ends in its obliteration by the courts. The California Republican Party slinks into irrelevancy. 'Chandler Roundup,' 1997. The papers-please arrests of those who look undocumented leads to recriminations and recall efforts against the mayor and two council members. The papers-please arrests of those who look undocumented leads to recriminations and recall efforts against the mayor and two council members. Arizona Senate Bill 1070, 2010. Hard-nosed immigration law provokes boycotts against the state and is dismantled by the courts. Hard-nosed immigration law provokes boycotts against the state and is dismantled by the courts. Los Angeles ICE raids, 2025. A week of protest and rioting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement tells the Trump administration it can try to deport 11 million-plus people but will do so at its peril. Left-wing rent-a-mob did the damage in LA The Los Angeles protests were infiltrated by the so-called Omnicause, the left-wing rent-a-mob that moves from city to city trying to destabilize the old order. It's a motley crew of anarchists, ethno-nationalists and Marxists that bring their black bloc and umbrellas to social justice protests, university encampments and now immigration pushback. It wasn't migrant dishwashers who burned Waymos or menaced ICE agents in LA. 'The people who are out there doing the violence ... they have a hoodie on, they have a face mask on ... these are people who do this all the time,' said Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell, as reported by Los Angeles Magazine. 'Many come in from other places just to hurt people and cause havoc. ... The violence I have seen is disgusting." But California has also become an experiment in how far you can press the immigration accelerator and still maintain a cohesive society. Opinion: Waymo cars get torched by LA protesters, burning Google – an immigration ally Biden let millions of immigrants in. That produced a reaction. The Los Angeles protests were as much a production of the Biden White House as they were the reactionary Trump administration. Democrats used the Biden years to stoke the largest mass migration of immigrants in this country's history, The New York Times reported in December. An average 2.4 million people annually poured across the border from 2021 to 2023. 'Even after taking into account today's larger U.S. population, the recent surge is the most rapid since at least 1850,' The Times reported. By 2023, the share of the U.S. population born in another country had soared to a new high ‒ 15.2%, The Times reported. In California that number is much larger – 27%, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. As for Los Angeles County, a third of its residents are now foreign born. It is not a political statement to say that mass migration is disruptive. Virtually everywhere you see it today, in the United States, Western Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, it roils the masses. There is a reaction, and one that is often consequential. Trump is the least of California's problems The Los Angeles ICE raids were the reaction to the Biden immigration surge. Trump swooped in with federal agents, National Guard and the U.S. military with little or no consultation with his California counterparts. That triggered a counterreaction. But Trump is the least of the worries confronting California and its biggest city. Opinion: Democrats scream democracy is in peril ... while proving that it's absolutely fine Joel Kotkin, a longtime Angelino and national expert on urban form and policy, wrote in his June 11 Spiked column 'Los Angeles has fallen' that the city 'offers a masterclass in urban dysfunction." 'Drive through the streets of the South Side or along Central Avenue," he said, "and the ambience increasingly resembles that of Mexico City or Mumbai: cracked pavements, dilapidated buildings, outdoor swap-meet markets and food stalls serving customers, much as one would see in the developing world." Kotkin continued: 'LA's political establishment is now dominated by people who barely, if at all, support capitalism. While cities such as San Francisco, Houston and even New York shift back towards the political center ground, Los Angeles in 2022 elected Mayor Karen Bass, a lifelong leftist who travelled to Castro's Cuba as part of the Venceremos brigade.' The cost of living is pushing out the working class Kotkin isn't the voice of MAGA. He's a fierce Trump critic who was a lifelong Democrat until he grew disillusioned with both parties and registered independent. The one-party state of California has produced taxation and regulation that has been raising the cost of living and housing and pushing Californians – and in particular, the working class – out. That puts the state on track to lose four of its 52 congressional seats by 2030, according to the Public Policy Institute. Today, there is evidence that even in immigrant-friendly California, where Latinos are a plurality, patience is wearing thin. Asked in February 2024 if immigrants are a benefit or a burden to California, 60% of Californians said immigrants are a benefit. But that was down from 66% in June 2023 and 78% in February 2021, the Public Policy Institute reported. Latinos oppose LA riots and Trump's raids even more We have seen nationally that Latinos are assimilating into American culture and are becoming less of a distinguishable voting bloc for any political party. Opinion: Trump isn't destroying our 'democratic norms.' Progressives are. Perhaps that is why a YouGov survey of American attitudes on the Los Angeles protests shows that a plurality of Latinos, 44%, disapprove while 39% approve. That almost mirrors American attitudes across the board, with 45% disapproval and 36% approval. Good news for the Trump administration? Yes. But the same poll shows Latinos and Americans think even less of his immigration raids: 50% of Americans, including 55% of Latinos, disapprove of how Trump is conducting the ICE raids. If that isn't clear to Trump, let me make it clear. It's time to tune out your fanatic in the West Wing – Stephen Miller – and get a grip. You can't deport 11 million hardworking immigrants. You can deport the much smaller subgroup of bad guys who commit serious crimes. Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic, where this column originally published. Email him at
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Analysis: Why does the US want to deport this man?
The Trump administration's immigration crackdown is reaching every American who sees protesters skirmishing with police on the news or video of masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raiding Home Depot parking lots in their social media feeds. On Tuesday, New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested by federal officers, some wearing masks, as he tried to accompany a migrant after an immigration court hearing. But there are countless stories that will touch Americans in their daily lives. Anyone who takes the time to look will find the immigration crackdown right next to them. That's what I found — at two degrees of separation — when I heard from a friend that her child's special needs aide's father, Arthur Newmark, was detained after being in the US for 10 years while he sought asylum from Russia. Newmark's lawyer says he did everything by the book as he sought asylum, filing paperwork in 2015 while he was in the country legally. It wasn't until last month, days after an asylum hearing with US Citizenship and Information Services, that Newmark was detained. ICE placed him into custody and took jurisdiction of his case from the asylum office. Newmark was detained by ICE agents on May 31 after he went outside his Northern Virginia home with his pet bird, Bernie. The agents told Newmark's wife, Kristina, to collect Bernie the bird, along with her husband's wallet and phone. The agents left with Newmark and took him to a detention facility in rural Virginia. It was only after his detention began that Newmark's family and lawyer learned ICE is now saying that he had overstayed his visa by 10 years. His lawyer vehemently disagrees. The Newmarks say they have legitimate fears for their lives in Russia; their lawyer Elizabeth Krukova showed me what appears to be a posting for Arthur on a registry of wanted persons there and said he came to the US because 'he was exposing corruption in Russia at the highest levels.' The entire family legally changed their names after living for three years in the United States. They argue they have followed the rules while seeking asylum and building their lives in Virginia, but now Newmark could face the possibility of deportation. It's not clear exactly why Arthur Newmark was taken into custody or why, after 10 years, the US government has now determined, days after his long-awaited asylum interview, that he had actually overstayed his visa. It was at that interview that Newmark, over the course of six hours, explained to immigration officials the danger he faces in Russia. I reached out to US Citizenship and Immigration Services to comment on Newmark's case. It declined to comment and referred me to ICE, which has not yet responded. Newmark's lawyer still says he has a strong asylum case, but the family's life has been turned upside down while he spent weeks inside a detention facility. His Russian-born children, one of whom is in college and one of whom just graduated from high school in Virginia, are now wondering if they'll be sent back to Russia, the country their parents fled, or somewhere else. A third child was born in the US. An immigration judge granted Newmark bond this week while his case proceeds, but now his wife and children have also been told to appear before an immigration judge in July, days before his next hearing. The asylum request was made in Newmark's name and the entire family has been living in immigration limbo. I spoke several times with the oldest daughter, Eva, a student at a community college who is studying to be a financial planner. She told me she chose to stay home and start a two-year college because she could pay tuition by the class instead of for a full year. 'If we get deported, I don't have to lose a lot of money,' she said. That's also partly why the family has not purchased a house in the US. 'Who wants a mortgage, if you don't know if you're going to stay in the country again, right?' Eva said in flawless English, as she translated for her mother, who speaks English, but not as fluently. While Arthur abandoned his Russian career as a lawyer when he came to the US — he has worked in trucking and in grocery stores — Kristina has built a business teaching music lessons. Her youngest son, an American citizen born in the US, has been successful in music competitions, she said. Arthur and Kristina initially came to the US in 2015 for her to have a medical procedure, but they were threatened in Moscow before leaving, according to Kristina. Arthur went back to Moscow through the border of another country, according to Eva, and arranged for the two Russian-born children to be flown to the US. They applied for asylum that same year, while in the US legally, and changed their names in 2018 to make it harder for them to be found by Russia. The Newmarks chose to seek asylum in the US believing that it would not deport them back to Russia. 'It was, first, opposite side of the world, and because we knew that this country has more rights and opportunities,' Kristina said. Even though 'this time is a little bit uncertain for the whole country,' Eva said, she still feels that in the US they can fight in court and have a lawyer represent them, which might not be the case in Russia. While the Newmarks' saga has been long and so far unresolved, the decade they have lived in the US without detention is not something more recent Russian asylum-seekers have experienced. The Newmarks came to the US in 2015, after Russia annexed Crimea but long before it invaded Ukraine. Thousands have fled Russia for the US since the invasion of Ukraine, frequently waiting at the border with Mexico for an opportunity to claim asylum. For most of President Joe Biden's administration, those asylees, many of them critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, were allowed to enter the country, or 'paroled,' while their claims progressed through the system. Then, beginning in 2024, for reasons not entirely known, many ultimately found themselves spending a year or more in detention. A group of detainees sued the Biden administration, arguing that Russian speakers were being discriminated against. The lawyer who brought that suit, Curtis Morrison, told me the issue is essentially moot now since the Trump administration wants to detain anyone seeking asylum rather than let them live in the country as the Newmarks have. 'The Trump administration is taking the view that nobody gets that,' Morrison said. 'So basically, everybody's being subjected to what the Russians were subjected to a year ago.'
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
‘No Kings' rallies are a Trojan Horse for radical, violent Leftists
So, the "No Kings" rallies went off without a hitch from coast to coast — and they were peaceful. Great news, right? That must mean the rioting and violence are over. Think again. This is the same script we saw with the Black Lives Matter movement, and we know exactly how it ends. When I warned in my Fox News op-ed last week that the "No Kings" rallies would provide cover for violent Antifa, anarchists and other thugs, every prediction came true—not hypothetically, but in brutal, tangible form across the Pacific Northwest. Take Seattle, where I live. On June 14, an estimated 70,000 protesters marched peacefully from Capitol Hill to the Seattle Center to decry the Trump administration. Just as expected, the rally was without incident, with little more than minor vandalism and the normal unhinged, angry messaging from the Radical Left complaining about authoritarianism and fascism, two concepts the average activist can even define. Yet once that crowd began to disperse, militants readying their black‑bloc gear—shielded, hooded, masked—stepped forward. They torched property, plastered federal buildings with graffiti, and hurled frozen water bottles at cops. They even concussed a local independent journalist, Cam Higby, for having the audacity to document their crimes. "At one point, they hold me down. I'm in a headlock. They're choking me. And this guy comes up and he punches me in the head twice. He then kicks me in the face. I pull out pepper spray, deploy it in his face, and then he cries like a baby for the next 10 minutes," Higby explained on my Seattle-based talk radio show. Spokane, too, fell victim. Originally billed as peaceful, the rally in the eastern Washington city devolved into disorder and defiance: 11 arrests with local authorities scrambling to contain escalating violence. Again, the crowd was "mostly peaceful"—until the moment it wasn't. In Tukwila, about 15 minutes south of Seattle, while the "No Kings" organizers marched in Seattle, a cadre of masked agitators erected makeshift barricades outside a Department of Homeland Security facility. When independent journalist Brandi Kruse arrived to cover the event, she was almost immediately assaulted with a radical spraying her in the face with wasp killer spray. Tukwila PD reported that pepper spray and "pepper‑balls" were deployed to clear the blockade after obstruction and escalation. Then there's Portland, where organizers boasted of "Portland‑nice" turnout—hundreds of peaceful participants pretending goodwill. A mob lobbed fireworks, smoke grenades and rocks at federal law enforcement protecting an ICE facility, injuring four. They tagged property with threatening messages, including, "Love thy neighbors + shoot ICE agents" and "We buy pig heads! Call: 1 800 DEAD COP." They forcibly entered the ICE facility, but federal agents were able to ultimately maintain control. During the melee, Antifa posted flyers doxxing federal agents. They returned on Sunday, with a total 20 arrests across the multiple protests outside the ICE facility. Portland's history shows that these black‑bloc tactics aren't spontaneous—they're rehearsed and coordinated, waiting for the right opportunity to get violent. Make no mistake: the "No Kings" organizers billed the rallies as democratic and peaceful, knowing that it would provide the perfect cover for violence. Left-wing media would focus on the peaceful rallies, while ignoring or downplaying the extremists enabled to continue assaulting police and sowing chaos on our streets. This was not accidental. It was strategic—radicals leveraging liberal goodwill to infiltrate and destabilize. And they succeeded. So what comes next? Wash, rinse, repeat. It's precisely what happened in 2020, as I write about extensively in my book "What's Killing America: Inside the Radical Left's Tragic Destruction of Our Cities," when I went undercover to infiltrate Antifa. On Tuesday, Portland Antifa again targeted ICE property, with federal agents making several arrests. The armed activists have maintained an around-the-clock "occupation" around the property and we anticipate this will continue throughout the summer. And the causes activists take on will not be relegated to immigration. Transgender radicals and their allies are already planning a June 27th rally and march in Seattle demanding free so-called "gender-affirming" care on demand, which includes reassignment surgeries and puberty blockers for minors. In Washington state, minors do not need parental consent for gender-affirming care. The "No Kings" movement is not the end—it's the beginning. Think Summer of Love 2.0, only with better branding and even more media complicity. Just like BLM, the radicals are banking on America being too distracted, too naïve, or too beaten down to see what's really going on. They show up in force, wrap themselves in words like "justice" and "freedom," then use that shield to justify terrorizing communities under the guise of activism. These are not organic uprisings. They are part of a billion-dollar national strategy. Peaceful protests are the Trojan horse. The radicals inside? They're waiting. And the media is letting them. Legacy outlets ran glowing coverage of the "mostly peaceful" marches while ignoring what came next: fires, assaults, vandalism, and threats. It's 2020 déjà vu. We've seen this before. The script is the same. The only difference is the cast. Don't be fooled, America. The chaos activists unleash is anything but accidental and the next act is already being written.
