By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Smugglers are encouraging migrants to cross the U.S.-Mexico border using a culvert system that drains raw sewage at the U.S.-Mexico border.
By doing so, Border Patrol agents, emergency workers and migrants face the risk of drowning and being exposed to highly toxic substances, The Los Angeles Times reports.
Sewage flows through the Tijuana River Valley culvert system during storms, quickly traversing a maze of drainage pipes that empties out at the border.
At least 45 migrants have been apprehended while using the sewer and storm water tunnels since October, Agent Jarrett Decker, a public affairs officer in the Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector, says.
The quick-moving storm water is unpredictable and contains a sewage, cancer-causing chemical waste and industrial compounds.
“A lot of times, agents are risking their own lives to save someone here,” Decker said.
