El Paso historian: Similar border tunnels found before
The discovery of the tunnel near downtown El Paso raises more questions than answers.
What was the tunnel being used for?
How old is it?
The Border Patrol said in a statement that the Texas Department of Transportation reached out after a cave-in during construction of a road.
The tunnel was found northwest of the Chihuahuita neighborhood.
TXDOT crews were working on the Border West Expressway at the time.
It’s a project already a year behind schedule, but TXDOT spokeswoman Jennifer Wright says the tunnel’s discovery will not delay the project any further.
“That is such a large project and basically our guys are going to stay out of the way while CBP continues their investigation,” Wright said. “It won’t impact the timeline of their work because they can move to another portion of that bridge.”
Border Patrol Agent Oscar Cervantes tells ABC-7 the tunnel is about 25 yards long.
Cervantes said Friday there’s no indication the tunnel goes into Mexico.
He couldn’t say how long the tunnel has been there or what it was used for only telling ABC-7 that it was still under investigation.
Several tunnels have been found in the area, and they didn’t always deal with immigration or drugs.
El Paso historian Freddy Morales believes the tunnel, like others in the area, could be linked to prohibition.
Morales has studied the tunnels found in the Chihuahuita neighborhood for several years.
“Chihuahuita has a very rich and diverse history,” Morales said. “Besides having tunnels we have a lot of basements here also where a lot of people would store a lot of the booze during that area.”
Morales also believes there are tunnels that have yet to be discovered.
“We were not aware of this tunnel and I believe there is possibly at least one or two other tunnels possibly not discovered yet in Chihuahuita,” Morales said.
