The problem for tunnel diggers is that it is VERY DIFFICULT to conceal the smuggling of PEOPLE, as opposed to the smuggling of DRUGS.
Theoretically, it is possible to smuggle humans through tunnels, but the payoff is small (100 kilos of pot, or coke, is worth a lot more than 100 kilos of Jose)...so they do not smuggle humans...rather only drugs.
It would work. Not absolutely but, it would stem the tide to a trickle.
Then they could come through the front door all they want, for all I care...
Wall + Border agents.
Combined the effectiveness increases 10x at least. You think walls suck? Go ask Israel.
Tunnels can only be built in certain areas. Namely, the populated areas.
The tunnels are built for smuggling drugs in, and spies in and out, and soon active terrorists in the U.S.
The drug tunnels are difficult because there so much money involved. It’s lucrative for Law enforcement and politicians alike. They aren’t going to be smuggling people out of those tunnels ... except for maybe very very high paying customers.
A well patrolled fence line is all we really need. I would put up a double fence 15’, 15’ apart and topped with barbed wire and the gap filled with concertina wire and motion sensors.
For every fortress, there will always be a way to get through the defenses.
The wall has been built in pieces over a period of decades already - and it has had dramatic impacts, shifting illegal immigration to places where the wall hasn’t been built yet. That alone is evidence that a wall has some effectiveness.
But more than a wall, what Trump can use executive authority in a variety of ways to eliminate sanctuary cities and punish employers who hire illegals. With even just a little bit of will, most illegal immigration can be stopped.
What makes a tunnel a success is limited transit. If multitudes of people keep mysteriously appearing at a site, then that would be a give-away. Plus, it is choke point. Tunnels are for drugs, not people.
A wall is a piece of a solution, not THE solution. Stop ringing the dinner bell is a major part of the solution, too. So is active patrolling of the wall. So is a streamlined deportation process.
Trump has talked about other pieces of his plan besides the wall, but he doesn’t talk about it as a system working together to curtail illegal aliens invading our nation. The press is more than dishonest enough not to talk about it in that way, and his silence on it merely gives the naysayers ammo.
The initial draw for illegals is jobs. No jobs, no freebies, they will self deport.
There are many hundreds of miles of border that illegals can cross at will. A few tunnels are not going to carry even a small fraction of the traffic that crosses hundreds of miles of open border. And tunnels are discovered sooner or later on the US side.
And I wouldn’t bet that there are so many that couldn’t be detected with some sort of sonar.
Where the sections of border fence have been built, as in San Diego, it works as intended. Illegals had to go around, and drug traffic was cut down considerably.
What the wall CAN do is stop the swarming multitude from coming in by reducing the number of people who come across illegally.
If anyone can do it, anyone will.
As it gets harder or more expensive, the traffic will slow. The harder and more expensive it gets, the fewer people will just diddy-bop into the US.
There’s an old saying that locks help keep honest people honest, but nothing stops your really dedicated thief. A wall is the same thing. It absolutely will not STOP illegals and drug smuggling and the like. But done right (always a tough nut with the government) it will increase the level of dedication needed and that will reduce these problems.
By that logic since condoms are only 99% effective everyone should have unprotected sex.
The Mexicans won’t smuggle masses of people though very expensive tunnels because people will talk and word will get back to The Law.
Drug smuggling though tunnels..... This makes more sense for Mexican cartels and criminals.
We need to make it more expensive to come and less profitable to stay. The wall adds to the difficulty of coming, which adds to cost. Tunnels have serious capacity limits, so that would provide a bottleneck to reduce the numbers, and that’s a whole lot better than two thousand miles of porous border.
The second step, making illegal presence less profitable for themselves and their employers, is also essential. We need to fine the illegals and their employers enough to make working here illegally and hiring illegals unprofitable. We also need to charge the illegals and their employers for the costs of enforcement and deportation.
You most definitely can find tunnels deep under ground.
I was recently considering buying land in Tombstone, but that area is a maze of old mine shafts. Many are undocumented.
I was told that I’d have to hire somebody to search for mine shafts before buying or building or my house could end up in a sinkhole within 20 years.
I quit there, so I’m not sure exactly who I’d hire or how they’d look, but that was the next step with the realtor.
It is true that some dig down 90 feet or more and come across avoiding all detection.
But not every coyote or drug person does that, just the super wealthy drug cartels.
The answer to that one is to inspect buildings and use satellites to photograph the Mexican side to see where large numbers of people are going in but not coming out.
There has to be indicators of tunnels based on activity.