Chinese immigration in El Paso started with the construction of the railroad. (Ivan Pierre Aguirre/Borderzine.com)

The remnants of tunnels under El Paso’s streets tell the origins of human smuggling

EL PASO – Some say stories of a maze of hidden tunnels beneath the city of El Paso are just myth while others swear that the underground pathways are real. Their existence has been the stuff of legend for over 150 years. The hidden tunnels are said to run beneath the streets of El Paso and down into Mexico, some of them dug by smugglers, and others dating from before to the American Civil War. Some of these tunnels may just go from one house to another, but others are said to run for miles. In a series of interviews conducted for the writing of Spirits of the Border: The History and Mystery of El Paso Del Norte, the late Tobias “Toby” Tovar, a math teacher at El Paso High School, discussed the section of these tunnels lying beneath El Paso High School.