Its nicknamed the james bond tunnel, the first known drug tunnel unearthed in the u. S. Back in 1990. Federal agents who found it said it was like something out of a bond movie. At 270 feet long, it was dug near the official Border Crossing in the town of douglas, arizona, part of a Drug Trafficking network run by mexican drug kingpin el chapo guzman. In just seven months, the feds say guzman used this 5foottall underground passageway to help smuggle 60,000 pounds of cocaine into the u. S. On the mexican side, there was a hidden switch inside a smugglers luxury home used to lift a pool table and concrete slab to open the passageway. Border patrol agent sergio martinez. Agent martinez the first tunnel was discovered in 1990 in douglas, arizona. And since then, they have encountered 183 tunnels within the tucson sector and the southe and most recently in nogales, arizona, they have actually created a team its called the nogales tunnel team in nogales, where their daily duties are to go find tunnels. Sharyl Border Patrol agents use remote controlled robots to investigate the tunnels. The majority of them, at least 100, have turned up in the town of nogales, arizona some just steps from the Border Crossing teeming with federal agents. This tunnel on the border town of naco is one of the longest, at more than 900 feet, and one of the most recent discoveries. Here in southern arizona, were just a few hundred yards from the mexican border. Thats it, the fence over there. And you can see right here in what looks like a shed next to a house, thats where the drug tunnel is. Agent martinez so, apparently, they were coming in through the shed, parking, opening the door, loading up the vehicle, and then pulling the stuff out of the tunnel. Discovered . Agent martinez it was discovered by human intelligence. They pulled a vehicle over and the guy had over 4,000 pounds of contraband in his vehicle, and ended up giving some information up, and they came to the house with a warrant and arrested all the individuals in the house. And we come in here. Here is the actual tunnel. So they had a lift gate. They were bringing the narcotraffics and all the stuff they had, all the narcotics. They were bringing it above. They had a lift since they were so heavy. They were just bringing it up, straight up. Sharyl how long was an operation like this going on for them to be able to dig the tunnel and move the drugs . Agent martinez that is unknown, but we believe they probably had it for quite a while. As you can see, its a very sophisticated tunnel. With those poles under, theres lights, they were using oxygen to go across the border. Sharyl cochise county sheriff mark dannels says the illegal enterprise operated for months in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Sheriff dannels they had a guard that watched it on this side who was armed when they took him down. But its a vip tunnel, its very sophisticated down there. Sharyl what do you mean vip tunnel . Sheriff dannels very important tunnel. The normal person coming across the border to find that better way of life wasnt coming through here. This was your highquality drugs coming through here heroin, methamphetamine. And you hate to think, but i think theres a rally touch to it, whoever could pay a fee, and possibly terrorists coming through here, which scares the heck out of me and should scare everybody when it comes to this tunnel. The opening of this tunnel was only controlled on the mexico side. The folks guarding the tunnel on this side had no control of opening or closing it. Sharyl you mean it was mechanically shut, sealed and opened . Sheriff dannels yep. Sharyl but from mexico . Sheriff dannels correct. The effort and the work and the expense to build a tunnel of this magnitude shows you how desperate they are to get their product through. Sharyl so theyre literally digging under where Border Patrol and you guys may be walking above ground every day . Sheriff dannels you know, as promote community policing, both the Border Patrol and us when it comes to getting in our communities, working, gathering that intel, but nobody reported this. Agent martinez we have trained agents and we have become more able to discover and use technology to find them. It has decreased the use of them. So, we have found three in the last year, and seven and six and five in the years previous to that. So were Getting Better at it. Sharyl last year, el chapo guzman, the father of all drug tunnels, escaped from a maximum security mexican prison through, what else, but an elaborate tunnel almost a mile long. Prison Surveillance Video shows him making a quick exit. The tunnel was complete with lights, ventilation, and a motorcycle on rails that was likely used to carry out dirt. Guzman was recaptured in january. U. S. Officials have noted a similarity between the tunnel guzman used to escape and that very first one discovered in douglas, arizona back in 1990. They may want to check the floor of his prison cell daily. Coming up next on full measure one of the most beautiful countries on earth is being associated with some of the most recent terrorist attacks. Well find out how morocco is protecting itself and what we can learn from them. Sharyl many have criticized the World Muslim Community for identifying the terrorist elements in its own religion. Exactly that morocco is in an area of north africa called the maghreb, which has become a hotbed of islamic terrorist activity. There were 15 terrorist attacks in the region in 2011. By 2014, the number leapt to over 1100. But of all those attacks, only one targeted morocco. So how has morocco achieved relative safety compared to its neighbors and what can we learn from it . Scott thuman found two people with some answers. Scott morocco is one of the worlds top tourist destinations known for stunning desert scenes, ancient architecture, and at least one hollywood classic. Casablanca was set during world war ii, when morocco in the French Resistance against hitler. Round up the usual suspects. Scott but since the attacks on paris and other terrorist assaults, the moroccans are front and center in another resistance against islamic extremists. Mohammed benhammou heads the Moroccan Center for strategic studies. For him, the threat is as clear as the numbers of foreign fighters they track. Dr. Benhammou when you have global view on this phenomenon, as we know we have in the region 1000 from algeria, 5,200 foreign terrorist fighter from tunisia, and when we move to the north in europe, we have 1,700 from france, 815 from belgium, so we have a very clear idea of the nationality and where these terrorists, from where they are coming. Scott when it comes to fighting terror, some have argued that its not the u. S. , its not the u. K. , but that its morocco that perhaps has the right formula the formula for success in fighting terror is that true . Dr. Benhammou i think that on casablanca on may 2003, have developed a very good experience. Scott the 2003 casablanca attacks were a wakeup call. 12 islamic extremist suicide bombers killed 33 people. Tens of thousands of moroccans responded with marching banners that said say no to terrorism. Within a year, 2000 had been arrested in connection with the attacks. Dr. Benhammou we know more about these terrorist groups, the networking, how they greet and look for the founding. The second pillar was to manage the religious spectrum, of course, managing the mosque, that imam role and the mission of the imam must be important that they do now just to pray and to parish and not to use the mosque for giving political speech or violent speech. Scott why is morocco getting it right . Gen. Ward the issue of cultural understanding, i think is something we could certainly take a lesson from. Scott retired general kip ward was the first commander of socalled africa command, africom, in charge of all u. S. Africa fromting in 2007 through 2011. It plays a key role in counterterrorism efforts. Gen. Ward we certainly spent time with that in africom trying to better understand the environment and, so, we have to do a better job of understanding the cultural and societal implications for our actions where we are, in fact, doing our activities, and thats something that morocco pays attention to. Scott what is it when it comes to fighting terror that you think has allowed morocco to not only prevent more attacks in its own territory, but also thwart attack gen. Ward i think thats certainly a big key, their intelligence. Having eyes and ears, having an understanding of whats going on in neighborhoods, putting the picture together to help better understand whats going on, and i think part of moroccos success is their network of knowledge that they have put together to understand whats going on inside of their country. Scott dr. Benhammou stresses that the key to moroccos success is that they make human intelligence, not technology, their first focus and rely on a system of interagency sharing of Vital Information combined with strict border controls and harsh gun laws. Sharyl so if they are having that kind of success, are they helping others like the United States . Scott with a point to is after couple ofattacks, a moroccan intelligence officials were quickly on a flight to france and they provided intelligence that prevented other attacks in t still ahead on full measure taking a stand on Syrian Refugees. One congressman goes against the tide and his party to defend accepting some of the victims of war. Sharyl last months bombings in brussels rekindled a call in europe and america to tighten borders and, from many republicans, to close the door to refugees and close it now. But republican congressman steven russell, a decorated combat soldier who helped hunt and capture saddam hussein, has stood up to his own party, appealing for america to not turn its back on muslim refugees fleeing syria and iraq. It was four days after the islamic extremist terrorist bombings in paris last november. Republican speaker of the house paul ryan called for a halt to the u. S. Accepting refugees from syria predominantly muslim groups that isis terrorists threatened to infiltrate. Speaker ryan this is a moment where its better to be safe than sorry, so we think the prudent thing to do is to take a pause in this particular aspect of this Refugee Program in order to verify that terrorists are not trying to take advantage of these laws. Infiltrate the refugee population. Sharyl according to gallup, 60 of americans approved of stopping the program. There was a massive call for immediate cessation of people coming in on visas. Sharyl and, specifically, from syria, right . Congressman russell well, named specifically from syria and iraq. Some wanted to extend that to certain religions or whatever. Sharyl republican congressman Steve Russell is a former Army Combat Soldier who knows something about refugees from the mideast. He did tours in kosovo, afghanistan, and iraq. Congressman russell ive had to see my own soldiers suffer and die. Ive had to take human life. Ive had to do a lot of things that in defense of my country. I understand defending my country. Sharyl russell insists refugees from syria are no threat to national security. He says he was so upset by rhetoric from his own party, he took to the house floor the day after ryans press conference. Congressman russell the statue of liberty cannot have a stiff arm. Her arm must continue to keep the torch burning brightly. But if we use our passions, anger, and fear to snuff out her flame by xenophobic and kneejerk policy, the enemy wins. We have played into their hands. Period. Sharyl russells speech was hours after and very much in line with this president obama tweet slamming the door on refugees would betray our deepest values, thats not who we are. Russell says hes no fan of the president s foreign policy, but on refugees, the white house is spot on. Congressman russell i want you to listen carefully to these statements by members of congress in response to a refugee bill. About people fleeing for their lives. Fighting immigration is the best votegetting argument. Th politician can beat his breast and proclaim his loyalty to america. Heres another one. Congress must protect the youth of america from this foreign invasion. These quotes were from 1939. While it was true that germany was a threat, the refugees were not. They were 20,000 children. That congress, with the same speech and rhetoric i am hearing in recent days in this august chamber, mr. Speaker, passed hurdle after hurdle to make it more difficult for those refugees to enter. They were unfortunately successful. Sharyl russell felt that if he could verify the security of the Refugee Program, he could persuade his colleagues to embrace it. He invited congressman stephen lynch, a democrat, to join him on an eyeopening journey. Congressman russell so we took carryon luggage only. And we hit several countries. We went to kilis, ceylanpiner in turkey, on the syrian border. Kilis was shelled the next day, a woman was killed to the zaatari camp in jordan, syrian border. Sharyl if you could say a couple of top key points that you learned on the trip, what would they be . Congressman russell a lot of people are just not aware of what is being done. And the unhcr, for example, does retinal scans. Theres clear identity of these individuals. Sharyl unhcr is the United Nations high commissioner for refugees. Which helps resettle refugees to countries like the u. S. Congressman russell the other thing we found is that they were not underdocumented. They were overdocumented. Theyre coming out of a dictatorship. You know if you dont have your papers youd be hauled away. So they would have passports. They would have licenses. They would have marriage and birth certificates. Sometimes as many as 20 pieces of documentation. So then the real question became, who are they . And who would we be letting here . They literally are some of the most vulnerable people. Sharyl prid refugees to the u. S. This year. But fbi director james comey testified the federal government has no way to do thorough background checks on them. Dir. Comey we can only query against that which we have collected. And so if someone has never made a ripple in the pond in syria in a way that would get their identity or their interest reflected in our database, we can query our database until the cows come home, but we are not going to there will be nothing show up because we have no record on that person. Sharyl our Homeland Security officials and fbi say, we dont know whos here. We havent been able to track them. So they dont have the faith that maybe some of them are wellchecked and most of them are wellmeaning, but we know that terrorists are trying to exploit the system to enter the u. S. Is there a way to guarantee people dont slip through . Congressman Russell Timothy mcveigh killed 167 people in my hometown of oklahoma city. Leveled a federal building. Should we ban all kansans from oklahoma . I mean you know we, we have to look at this comprehensively. Sharyl people dont know what about the Syrian Refugees . Specifically who needs help and would like to come to the u. S. . Congressman russell dont confuse the narrow hundred, hundreds of syrian war refugees in great need with the larger issue of refugees and immigration. They are not the same. One is a heavily vetted program, that is, in my estimation, probably one of the most secure things that we do on immigration. Sharyl the latest bombings in brussels may distance russell even further from some republicans. Sen. Cruz we need to immediately halt the flow of advisedresidents ill plan to bring in tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees. Congressman russell im in a very o you know, im not embraced by, you know, the opposition party, and im not embraced necessarily by my own party. But thats okay. Ive been defending the constitution since i was 18. I dont need a party to tell me what that is. Sharyl after all the talk, congress has not stopped the Refugee Program. 768 syrians have come to the u. S. As refugees since november of 2015. Russell is working to shape a bill that would tighten security screenings while keeping the refugee pipeline open. And still ahead on full measure march money madness we take a look at the brackets that break down some of the biggest projects that have wasted your tax dollars. Sharyl two teams are preparing to battle it out for the College Basketball championship title. Another tournament just wrapped up and crowned its overall champion. Its the inaugural tournament of government waste created by republican senator rand paul. He invited taxpayers to vote online for the winners in these dubious match ups. We follow the money to see how the contenders stack up. Its a bracket of government waste. A collection of the sweet 16 in what senator rand paul calls the best examples of your tax dollars being used in egregious ways. Competing in the tournament of government waste a Program Sponsored by the National Science foundation that provided 853,000 to Washington State Community Colleges to fund winemaking programs. Also chasing the title free yoga classes offered to bureaucrats at a variety of federal agencies. Calling these classes free might be a stretch. Paul says its cost taxpayers over 150,000 since 2013. Advancing to the elite eight, the federal Emergency Management agency. Its supposed to help americans recover from disasters. But paul called a double play after learning fema has spent more than 50 million in disaster payments for damage already paid by insurance companies. Voters deemed the final four bracket busters some of the biggest boondoggles within the federal government. Including a state Department Program that sent children from pakistan to u. S. Space camp at a taxpayer cost of 250,000. A housing and urban Development Program that subsidizes Public Housing made it all the way to the final round. It was a technical foul that brought this program into the tournament. According p live in taxpayer subsidized Public Housing at an annual cost of 104 million to taxpayers. And walking away with the title champion of government waste, a program that helped Illegal Immigrants whove been deported from the u. S. Start up businesses in their home countries. The program is administered by a Nonprofit Organization funded through a 50,000 grant from a taxpayerbacked independent government agency. Senator paul chairs a subcommittee on federal spending oversight. On the next full measure why are with u. S. Troops in estonia, on russias border, to see firsthand the buildup of equipment and troops. Donald trump has said we should get rid of the obsolete force. It is an escalation of force is not seen since the cold war to counter what some might describe as a red storm russian president putin that story, on the next full measure. Finally, we want to recognize a generation of veterans who fought in another war. Earlier this week was the unofficial recognition of Vietnam Veterans day. It marks the final withdrawal of combat troops from South Vietnam in 1973. A proposal to officially designate march 29 to commemorate our vietnam vets, was introduced in 2011 and has yet to get through congress. Many feel official recognition is long overdue for the troops who returned without welcome or recognition. For years, welcome home has been an expression used by Vietnam Veterans to one another. Welcome home to all our veterans. Announcer starting right now on this week with george stephanopoulos, trumps terrible week. The billionaire frontrunner down big in wisconsin after seeing his top adviser arrested, sparking a firestorm over abortion and getting slammed on his foreign policy. Im not sure which is worse, dealing with the party people or dealing with the press. Announcer now, is trump more vulnerable than ever . And could a wisconsin loss make a convention clash inevitable . The Republican Party chair and trump rival john kasich are both here. Plus, fed up and feuding. Im also a democrat. Thats kind of important. Secretary clinton owes us an apology. Announcer as Bernie Sanders gains in the polls, the democratic fight for the nomination gets heated. Bernie sanders joins us live
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