US, Mexican authorities investigate tunnel from Juarez into El Paso
UPDATE: The discovery of a tunnel running from Juarez into El Paso sparked a multi-agency response Friday, including local, state, federal, and even international law enforcement.
In a news conference Friday afternoon, Border Patrol Agent Claudio Herrera from the El Paso Sector Public Affairs office said the coordinated investigation includes members of Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI El Paso Foreign Operations Branch, Customs and Border Protection, El Paso Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, the Mexican government, the U.S. consulate general in Juarez, among others.
Herrera said that more information would be shared as the investigation continued, but that limited details were available at the moment.
Video shot by ABC-7 news partners Canal 44 from Mexico of the banks of Rio Grande on U.S. side of border showed the progression of the investigation Friday afternoon:
EL PASO, Texas and JUAREZ, Chihuahua (KVIA) -- A large law enforcement presence could be seen on either side of the border and border wall near the Border Highway and adjacent the X in the Plaza de la Mexicanidad in Juarez on Friday afternoon.
ABC-7 crews on the scene saw dozens of state and federal law enforcement vehicles near a border wall gate, including Texas Department of Public Safety state troopers, U.S. Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, and Mexican law enforcement on the U.S. side of the border.
ABC-7 is working to learn more about the cause of the investigation.
