In a rare moment of bipartisanship, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Subterranean Border Defense Act, a bill aimed at combatting Mexican cartels’ use of tunnels to smuggle illegal immigrants, drugs, and contraband into the United States. The legislation sailed through the House in a 402 to 1 vote, with the lone dissenter being Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)—a move that has raised eyebrows, though her office has yet to comment on her opposition.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) and co-sponsored by Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA), represents a rare cross-party consensus on border security. With six other House Republicans backing the measure—including Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee’s subcommittee on border security—the legislation passed with minimal debate, lasting less than 10 minutes on the House floor.
The Subterranean Border Defense Act directs U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to submit an annual report to Congress detailing the scope of cartel tunnel activity and the methods being used to detect and combat these underground passages.
Cartels have relied on tunnel networks for decades, but their use has increased by 80% since 2008, according to Crane. More than 140 tunnels have been discovered breaching the U.S. border since 1990, underscoring the growing sophistication of these smuggling operations.
“With border crossings thankfully going down since January, I think it’s safe to assume this will drive threats to our border underground through these tunnels,” Crane warned during the House debate.
Correa echoed those concerns, emphasizing that the bill would help counter illicit cross-border tunnels and ensure Congress holds bad actors accountable.
In an era of heightened political division, the near-unanimous passage of this bill is notable. House leaders fast-tracked the vote under suspension of the rules, a procedural move typically reserved for widely supported, high-priority legislation. By doing so, they bypassed the usual drawn-out process but required a two-thirds majority for passage—a threshold the bill cleared with ease.
Crane, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is known for his hardline stance on border security. That he and Correa—a Democrat from California—could find common ground speaks to the growing urgency of tackling cartel influence at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The biggest question lingering over the bill’s passage is why Rashida Tlaib opposed it. As the sole “no” vote, her reasoning remains unclear, though Fox News Digital reached out to her office for comment and received no response. Given her history of progressive activism and opposition to Trump-era border policies, some speculate that her dissent was a symbolic stance against increased border enforcement measures—even one as non-controversial as tracking tunnel activity.
