'They're coming out of the woodwork' now has a rather horrific comparative in El Paso, where hundreds of illegals, at least, are now crawling into the U.S. through the sewers.

According to the New York Post:

Illegal immigrants have been spotted popping out of manholes in downtown El Paso, crawling out of the sewer system to enter the country illegally, according to local reports.

Residents who live near downtown El Paso have been witnessing migrants exiting manholes for weeks now, sometimes in groups as large as 30.

A group of six illegal immigrants was spotted Wednesday night just north of the border wall by a KVIA-TV news crew after having entered the US waste water system via openings at the Rio Grande river, which serves as the border marker.

“They are not using the river anymore, they are using the water tunnels to come in,” local resident Rosalina Tapia told the TV station in October.

After they climb onto the street, Tapia said, she’s seen smugglers waiting for the migrants, ready to take them farther into the country.

If that isn't suggestive of a border out of control, what is?

After all, illegal migrants are literally being escorted in by the Border Patrol, and instead of being detained for breaking and entering without authorization, they are now "processed" and sent on their way freely throughout the country.

If you've ever seen the 1983 film "El Norte," with sympathetically portrayed migrants from Guatemala being escorted into the U.S. by evil human smugglers through a surreally horrific rat-filled sewer tunnel, you will get a whiff of what that trip for these migrants into El Paso, whoever they are, might have been like. I could not find any good video from that movie on YouTube conveying the horror, one of the most freakish and memorable movie scenes I've ever seen, but this screenshot from the trailer, before the rats encircled the migrants from all sides, running round and round, is a minor indicator.

Screen shot, El Norte, trailer, via YouTube

The director was interviewed recently about that famous tunnel scene here.

But his film was made in 1983 when the border was a thing and the Border Patrol was allowed to guard the border. The migrants portrayed appeared to have valid asylum cases.

Anyone coming into the U.S. today though a sewer though, would have to have a mighty important reason to ensure that lawmen would not apprehend them and "process" them for travel thoughout the country. All migrants are being let in now, and all they have to do is say the magic word "asylum," no matter how invalid their claims.

Who wouldn't want to choose that route, given the willful gullibility (or worse) of the Biden administration?

Most likely, the sewer crawlers are human-traffickers bringing in slave labor, actual cartel criminals looking to ply their trade in the states, parolees for crimes in the U.S., multiple-times deported criminals with long criminal records in the states, or bona fide drug smugglers bringing in all manner of lethal illegal substances, all of whom might be still be subject to arrest if they are caught.

That they are coming in through the sewers now, with nobody putting some kind of net on the entry doesn't suggest a very bright future ahead for the U.S. citizens who are going to have to live with these lawbreakers.

Repeat: They could get let into the country just for wanting in, as thousands and thousands of migrants massing at the border are now doing, but instead, they take the rat-filled roach-infested sewer route. Then they waltz in with no lawmen allowed to do a thing.

It really does signal a border out of control at the El Paso entry point, a very sorry situation where the mayor has been cagey at least about declaring an emergency because he doesn't want to offend Joe Biden and he doesn't want Texas Gov. Greg Abbott stepping in to help, so the out of control situation continues, with 6,000 illegal border crossers expected to enter El Paso per day as Title 42 restrictions are dropped. (He eventually did declare an emergency two days ago). Meanwhile, Joe's deadbeating the city on the money promised to care for the migrants, leaving the city high and dry as the migrants come in from every possible means -- including the sewers.

Hat tip: Issues & Insights

Image: Screenshot from video by Julio Rosas / Townhall, via Fox News on shareable YouTube