Mexican authorities uncovered a new drug tunnel in Tijuana on Friday, the same day the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary was visiting the U.S.-Mexico border.
The tunnel was discovered when Mexican state police stumbled on an armed man was found in a Tijuana parking lot, according to a written release from the Mexican government. The location of the tunnel opening is Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, officials said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson Lauren Mack said the tunnel was incomplete and did not reach U.S. land. The nearest streets are Via de la Amistad and Siempre Viva Road.
DHS Secretary John Kelly was scheduled to tour one of the most fortified stretches of the border separating San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.
Kelly was visiting the border in Arizona and California for the first time since he became secretary last month. Last week he toured the border in southern Texas.
NBC 7 spoke to Everard Meade, Director of the Transborder Institute at the University of San Diego, who said that the border wall in San Diego doesn't stop drug cartels and smugglers.
"We're talking just about this physical border because it's a good political symbol, but it's not really how most people and things get into the United States anyway," Meade said.
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He added that the U.S. needs Mexico's cooperation when it comes to such occurrences.
"The old analogy is, you build a 20-foot wall, they build a 21-foot ladder," he said.
According to the DHS, an estimated 148 tunnels have been build along the U.S.-Mexico border since 2006, most of them in California and Arizona.
