Drug Smugglers from Mexico Use Secure Border Crossings in Spite of Miles of Walls Phil McCausland, Jacob Soboroff and Aarne Heikkila - NBC News
go to original March 13, 2017

At the San Ysidro crossing, along the U.S.-Mexico border, a large number of narcotics are illegally brought into the U.S. each day. (NBC Nightly News)

Secure checkpoints along the American-Mexican border have become an increasingly popular entrance for drug smugglers entering the United States, a fact that could undermine President Donald Trump's argument for a border wall.

Customs agents at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the busiest land border crossing in the world, check 50,000 vehicles and 20,000 pedestrians on an average day — and they do it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Located just south of San Diego and a few miles north of Tijuana, there are countless attempts to bring drugs across the border: some successful, some not.

"We're looking at everyone. We're looking at illegal narcotics, heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, all entering the borders," said Sidney Aki, Customs and Border Protection Director of the San Ysidro Port of Entry.



Border agents have seen drug seizures swell, and heroin and methamphetamine have become increasingly commonplace. The amount of heroin nabbed by agents has quadrupled since 2010 and meth seizures have tripled.

Smugglers hide the drugs wherever they can: often tucked deep inside the cars they're driving across the border.

"For us hard narcotics are trending, particular heroin and methamphetamine — the packages are getting a little bit smaller for us," said Pete Flores, CBP Director of Field Operations, San Diego Sector. "The number of them have increased obviously because the packaging is smaller and in order to put them in deeper concealment in the vehicles."



San Diego County — where the popular entry point is located — is unique as it has as many as three border fences along some sections. The first fence was put up in the 1950s, the second was built as part of 1994's Operation Gatekeeper and the third was constructed under 2006's Secure Fence Act.

Smugglers aren't intimidated by the three hurdles in San Diego County or the nearly 700 miles of barriers currently built along the border. Instead, they target the numerous legal entry points to pass into the U.S.

Read the rest at NBC News

Related: ‘Like a Block of Cheese with Holes in It’ — How Mexican Cartels Will Subvert and Avoid Trump’s Border Wall (SOFREP)

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