Associated Press Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Mayor Jerry Sanders got a look at the exit end of the recently discovered drug tunnel in Otay Mesa.

Top city and county officials lobbied Sen. Dianne Feinstein yesterday for help in restoring San Diego's designation as a recipient of federal Homeland Security funds.

In January, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that San Diego was not among 35 metropolitan areas considered at high risk for terrorist attack or natural disaster, and wasn't eligible for part of $765 million this year.

Feinstein, D-Calif., said she planned to get a confidential briefing within the next two weeks to determine which criteria San Diego didn't meet so she could then try to change them.

“San Diego deserves to be one of the top 35 cities,” she said.

Feinstein was in the area to visit an Otay Mesa drug tunnel discovered last month and to announce legislation that would criminalize tunneling into the country.

While it's illegal to enter the country without permission or to smuggle drugs – two activities related to the illicit tunnels – digging under the border isn't in and of itself illegal.

Feinstein was escorted to the tunnel entrance by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, Police Chief William Lansdowne, Sheriff Bill Kolender and County Supervisor Greg Cox.

“Oh, for heaven's sake,” Feinstein said when she walked into the small room where the tunnel entrance had been dug, framed by a tile floor. “Unbelievable. Unbelievable.”

Michael Unzueta, who heads the San Diego office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told the senator that the tunnel stretches a half-mile south to a small warehouse in Tijuana.

Agents found more than 2 tons of marijuana in the tunnel, which they estimated had been in operation for a couple of months and was dug without interrupting underground utilities in the area, he said.

A large amount of lumber on the Mexican side was probably going to be used to shore up the tunnel, he told Feinstein.

While federal agents are planning to seal the tunnel, Unzueta said he hasn't heard of similar plans in Mexico.

“We need to make sure this is sealed on both ends,” he said.

During a news briefing later, Feinstein said she wanted her bill to target not just those behind the tunnels, but also landowners on whose property the tunnels are built.

“People who have these warehouses along the border should know that there's a problem,” she said.

Eight tunnels have been discovered along the California-Mexico border since the start of the year, Feinstein said.

“It makes you wonder how many more of these are out there,” Cox said.

And, despite the ability of smugglers to defeat border fortifications by going underground, Feinstein supported construction of more fences where practical.

She also said she supported the idea backed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for a “virtual fence” providing electronic monitoring along the entire 1,900-mile border with Mexico.

She also supported increased use of technology that would allow investigators to know what's underground.

Agents have recently complained that high-tech attempts to find tunnels without digging are in their infancy and not very reliable.