‘Our border is closed’: Inside Trump’s push for zero migrants — and the tunnels defying it
-
Click here to listen to this article -
- Even as Trump officials hail historically low illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, they continue to pressure Mexico to drive migrant numbers closer to zero.
asserted
they → close → zero
- As razor wire, drones and new barriers tighten the border, Mexican cartels increasingly reroute migrants through underground tunnels and city drainage systems.
asserted
cartels → tighten → tunnels
- Smugglers now charge up to $25,000 for passage through elaborate tunnels outfitted with lights, ventilation and rail systems.
asserted
Smugglers → charge → lights
When the Trump administration announced this summer that illegal crossings into the U.S. from Mexico had reached historical lows, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin declared, “Our border is CLOSED to lawbreakers.”
asserted
border → announce → lawbreakers
Even so, the administration continues to pressure both Mexico and U.S. officials serving there — publicly and behind the scenes — to curb illegal immigration further.
asserted
administration → continue → immigration
The crackdown has prompted smugglers to become more creative, turning more often to tunnels once reserved for transporting drugs.
asserted
crackdown → prompt → drugs
Stephen Miller, the main architect of President Trump’s immigration policies, has been in near-daily communication with senior U.S. law enforcement officials, including the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, looking for new ways to stop migrants from entering the United States, according to people familiar with the conversations.
uncertain
Miller → include → conversations
An average of 400 migrants were apprehended while crossing into the U.S. every day in July, according to data by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
uncertain
average → apprehend → Customs
It’s a precipitous drop from the thousands who crossed daily at the peak of a migrant surge in 2022.
asserted
who → ’ → 2022
Sometimes the number of crossings has dropped to 200 a day.
asserted
number → drop → 200
But for Miller, that reduction is still not enough, said sources not authorized to speak publicly about internal matters.
asserted
sources → say → matters
Miller’s goal, they said, is to have zero migrants entering the U.S.
Miller has directed officials to increase investigations into migrant smuggling networks, people familiar with his directives said.
asserted
people → say → directives
Since returning to the White House in 2025, Trump has often asked Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to crack down on immigration.
asserted
Trump → return → immigration
On Aug. 26, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Mexico’s foreign minister, Roberto Velasco Álvarez, and urged him to take “decisive action on illegal immigration,” according to a statement from the State Department.
uncertain
Rubio → meet → Department
The Trump administration’s border crackdown has been so effective it’s forced some smugglers literally underground.
asserted
it → force → smugglers
Mexican drug cartels are increasingly turning to tunnels built for drug smuggling to ferry migrants into the United States.
asserted
cartels → turn → States
They are linking into sewer drains, according to people familiar with the trend.
uncertain
They → link → trend
Though the number of migrants apprehended while using tunnels appears to be relatively small — there are no hard statistics — authorities believe it is increasing, given the crackdown on the border and financial incentive for the cartels to smuggle people and not just drugs.
“Enforcement along the border has become more robust and that has increased the demand for alternative methods of passage,” said David Shirk, director of the Justice in Mexico program at the University of San Diego.
asserted
Shirk → apprehend → Diego
The Trump administration has added extra miles of razor wire to border fences, has increased surveillance technology and uses autonomous Predator drones with surveillance and infrared technology to monitor swaths of the border for migrants crossing into the U.S.
1.
asserted
administration → add → U.S.
A bulldozer sits near Santa Elena Canyon on Aug. 14 in Big Bend National Park, Texas, where contractors have begun construction of a border wall.
asserted
contractors → sit → wall
2. Protesters gather in San Antonio, Texas, on Aug. 28 to demonstrate against construction of a border wall in Big Bend National Park.
asserted
Protesters → gather → Park
And, picking up on Trump’s “build the wall” pledge from his initial run for president, more border barriers are being built.
asserted
barriers → pick → president
Trafficking through cross-border tunnels is not new.
asserted
Trafficking → traffic → tunnels
In 2023, Ken Salazar, then the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said there were at least 200 tunnels that spanned the border.
asserted
that → say → border
Many of them were found linking Tijuana and San Diego.
asserted
Many → find → Tijuana
But in a twist, some tunnels now connect to drainage and sewer systems.
asserted
tunnels → connect → systems
This May, authorities captured 19 migrants, including three unaccompanied minors, in the San Diego storm water drainage system.
uncertain
authorities → capture → system
A remote surveillance camera spotted the migrants emerging from the system.
asserted
migrants → spot → system
The smugglers were two brothers who had previously been charged with methamphetamine trafficking in the Northern California town of Yreka in 2017.
asserted
who → charge → 2017
Smugglers employ tunneling specialists whose work is getting more sophisticated, outfitting the tunnels with lights, ventilation systems and sometimes mini rail lines.
asserted
work → employ → lights
Many tunnels are faster, safer and much more expensive for migrants who would otherwise face increasingly dangerous mountain and desert routes, experts said.
asserted
experts → face → routes
Last year, Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations agents also found a tunnel that ran under the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico into El Paso.
asserted
that → find → Paso
The passage tapped into the El Paso sewer system, where, according to U.S. authorities, migrants surfaced from a manhole.
uncertain
migrants → tap → manhole
They climbed into a box truck outfitted with a trap door that was parked over the manhole.
asserted
that → climb → manhole
Cartels charge migrants from Latin America up to $15,000 dollars each to use tunnels to El Paso, an official familiar with the dynamics said.
asserted
official → charge → dynamics
The tunnel traffic continues to vex U.S. officials.
asserted
traffic → continue → officials
In Tijuana, one tunnel discovered last year stretched from Tijuana to what appeared to be a Buy 4 Less store near the Otay Mesa port of entry.
asserted
what → discover → entry
The store never had customer traffic, so U.S. law enforcement suspected it hid a tunnel and began monitoring the business.
asserted
it → have → business
Authorities raided the building and found the entrance to a tunnel controlled by the ruthless Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
asserted
Authorities → raid → Cartel
It featured a hydraulic lift, ventilation and a rail and cart system.
asserted
It → feature → lift
…and 4 more, not listed.
