Original subtitles

The San Ysidro Port of Entry is the busiest land border crossing in the

Western Hemisphere.

Every day, 90,000 people pass through it. Are you bringing back anything from

Mexico?

No fruits or vegetables, alcohol, tobacco today?

No, not today?

All right.

Officers have the authority to question and stop any traveler.

Do you mind opening the trunk?

Being here at the border, it's not like civilian police department where you're

going to need a little bit more to go inside the vehicle.

We have border search authority.

This afternoon, a woman and her friend returning from Mexico have been selected

for a routine check.

Not long before the canine.

leads Officer Bumpus to an area under the hood.

So my dog was alerting under the vehicle, like towards the front end of

the vehicle.

So we're checking it out right now.

That's exactly where he was going.

And it's a solid view.

Front end behind the tire.

Scrolled all the way from the back to the front.

But I can't find anything.

Up there.

Yep.

Talk him up.

A secret compartment is stuffed full of what looks like prescription medication.

You found something.

My mother are gonna be taken down we have to do what we have to do

Not

to ever find attention

On any given day, there are over 2 million outstanding arrest warrants for

wanted criminals in the U.S.

Everyone returning from Mexico

is subject to a background check.

This afternoon, a woman coming home after a day trip to Progreso has been

stopped.

So we had a pedestrian traveling from Progreso, Mexico, and through

pedestrian, and the subject came out as a positive for a want.

Right now, there's no information about what crime the woman is wanted for.

Confirm the address.

In her case, I asked her if she was ever been detained, had trouble with the law

enforcement at any time. She said no.

She said she also has family members that work for the PD in Fort Worth,

Texas.

So that's irrelevant for us because a human being is a human being.

Officer Maureen runs the woman's fingerprints.

There we go. Go like this.

But keep this right here. To check that her ID matches the warrant.

Thank you, ma'am.

Information soon comes through from the issuing authority, which is in another

county 500 miles away.

It did confirm for an outstanding warrant out of Gainesville, Texas, for

larceny, which was inputted back in November of last year.

Okay, now, get that back.

You can put your shoes on right here and then give your items to your husband

right now.

While they wait to find out whether Gainesville PD wants to arrest her,

Officer Maureen allows the woman to speak with her husband.

Sir, your wife?

You may speak to her if you need to. She wanted to give you the belongings.

So did the supervisor speak to you already?

So here's the thing, okay?

She came out as a positive for a warrant, an outstanding warrant out of

Gainesville, Texas.

For what?

For larceny.

For that?

Okay. Okay.

She says she's in Gainesville. She doesn't have anything.

We live in Fort Worth. We have no business in Gainesville. We don't do

anything in Gainesville. Like I'm saying, you have a job. Do you work?

Yes. Okay, so you do your job. We're just doing our job. That's it. We're

going back.

I understand completely.

Right. Our whole family is police officers, Fort Worth Police Department.

Right. She informed me about that. This is not a typical MO for someone that's

going to commit a crime. We've seen everything in occupation title that's

irrelevant to who gets arrested and who doesn't. I understand. But I understand

where you're coming from. I'm just letting you know this is your

opportunity to speak to her right now.

I was reading her body language, and he was like, kind of like, what? And she

was like, the check.

At the San Ysidro crossing.

The front end behind the tire.

Oh, there it is. Yep.

Hook them up.

A woman and her friend returning to the U.S. have been detained.

After a search of their vehicle, uncovered medication hidden in the

dashboard.

Should be an airbag in here.

So an officer pulled this up, and there's a bunch of medicine back in

here. The contraband consists of packets of diet pills.

and bottles of medicated shampoo.

The two women entered the border in the fast

lane, used only for pre-vetted drivers holding a sentry pass.

The amount smuggled in is assigned to Supervisor Walker.

It's not for personal use.

What they do is they try and take this medication, probably to a swap meet, and

try to resell it for probably a little bit more than what they bought it for in

Mexico.

And that's obviously not authorized. That's why they're hiding it.

So we'll go ahead and seize their medicine.

The car is taken to a secure area where Officer Roque will carry out a thorough

search.

Dashboards are pretty common concealing methods. People just create these little

areas to hide stuff so they can smuggle things through.

This right here is like people use for weight loss. It's a schedule for

controlled substance.

I think these people use it for like weight loss and different things, or at

least I hope it's just for that.

This weight loss drug is popular in Mexico, but not approved for use in the

U.S.

creating a black market for smuggled pill.

I don't know how much more is in here, so I'll have to check in the dashboard

and see if there's anything else hidden anywhere else.

Shampoo? I guess it's some sort of medical shampoo. I have no idea.

I don't know if it's in under here. Oh, it is.

Yeah, so it's all in here, too.

So I'll have to open all this up.

Every day, around 10,000 people cross the Camino Real bridge.

Among the travelers are pacateros, unofficial couriers carrying goods

across the southern border.

Although lucrative work, it comes with a risk

because the drivers are rarely aware of what they're bringing in.

Yeah, we want to scan all of this.

Today, a courier entering into Mexico with a trailer has been sent to

secondary inspection.

This driver was coming from Houston, headed to Guanajuato, Mexico.

We selected him because he had a lot of merchandise that he's taking to Mexico

for other people.

The Mexican drug cartels are known to hide cash and guns in Pacatero's cargo.

Suspicious that the trailer may contain contraband, officers put the whole

shipment through an X-ray machine.

Nothing yet.

But it's not long before the X-ray

reveals a suspicious outline.

And it looks like we have one firearm and some ammunition in this box.

It looks like we have the firearm here and ammunition in this boot.

The man is immediately detained.

While Officer Ruiz examines the concealment method.

Could be for the x-ray.

Could be for the canine.

Try to hide the smell or the odor of the firearm.

That way our canine doesn't hit on it.

But in this case, we were able to locate it using the x-ray.

Because Mexico has strict laws preventing the purchase of guns, every

year around 150,000 firearms are smuggled into the country by criminal

gangs.

So the gentleman's claiming that he didn't know about the firearm.

One, he can be facing charges.

His vehicle can be seized. There's a lot of different scenarios, but right now we

have to wait for HSI to see if they're going to want to do further

investigation on this or take him from there.

Smuggling a hidden weapon.

is a serious crime.

Homeland Security Investigations will question the man further to decide

whether to prosecute.

You can step out.

You can put your shoes on.

In progresso.

A woman returning home from a day trip to Mexico has been detained because she

has a warrant out for larceny.

Whenever she had the opportunity to give her belongings to her husband, she was

trying to whisper something to him.

I was reading her body language, and he was kind of like, what? And she was

like, the check.

Was that check that you're talking about in November?

We had a contractor that worked for us.

23? 22, 23.

That's the only check. We had a contractor that worked for us.

The couple paid a man to do some work on their property.

They wrote a check, which bounced.

That would be a simple thing. It wouldn't be charged larceny on that

because it wasn't written to a business or anything like that. No,

no, it was to the contractor.

Thank you.

Okay, perfect. Thank you. Have a good day.

The Hidalgo Sheriff's Office confirms that they will be coming to arrest the

woman before extraditing her back to the county that issued the warrant.

We only have so much information right now when Hidalgo County arrives.

If she has any further questions, because they're actually the ones who

are going to take over, she could ask them.

And then she'd have to go all the way back to Gainesville.

Like I said, they're going to answer your questions.

Ma'am, can you give her the purse?

Sir, do you want to give her a last hug before they pick her up, you know?

No, but I mean, as a husband and wife, I'm pretty sure you want to give her a

hug. You know, we're human beings right there.

An officer from Hidalgo County arrives to make their arrest.

And they'll pick you up from our camp. They'll take you back to cook. Okay.

Thank you,

sir. Thank you very much. How's it going?

According to her, she never had a criminal record, never been arrested,

never had to do a pat-down before.

But anyways, wish her the best. And remember, learn your lesson and stay out

of trouble.

In Eagle Path, a courier has been detained after being caught smuggling a

weapon into Mexico.

So the gentleman's claiming that he didn't know about the firearm.

One, he can be facing charges.

His vehicle can be seized.

There's a lot of different scenarios, but right now we have to wait for HSI to

see if they're going to want to do further investigation on this or take

him from there.

These are 40.

And this firearm is 40 as well. So yes, these rounds are for this pistol.

They don't check the merchandise that they're taking into Mexico, so it makes

it easier for somebody to send something illegal like this.

Only one pistol was found, but that alone can be sold for hundreds of

dollars on the black market in Mexico.

We were able to seize one firearm magazine in a total of 50 rounds, which

is a good thing for us.

Whatever reason, they were using it for over there in Mexico.

They were exporting it illegally.

Since the courier has no prior history and claims no knowledge of the weapon,

this time he won't face any charges.

So as of right now, HSI has deferred prosecution.

Firearms are going to stay here in our possession. They're going to be seized.

And the rest of the items that the gentleman was carrying with him, he's

going to be free to go with.

But he's not completely in the clear. New laws created to crack down on cartel

crime have recently been passed.

The form this guy just signed, essentially the United States government

labeled the cartel a terrorist organization. In this form, we have it

in English and Spanish.

It says if you have any affiliation and we find out you do, the law is going to

go after you in full extent.

They read this, they sign it, we find out through investigation that they have

any affiliation to the cartel, they're going to jail.

By signing the form, the driver is declaring his innocence.

But if he's lying and later found a half-cartel link, he could then be

arrested.

It wasn't a good thing that they were having this firearm hidden within these

containers, so it wasn't a good thing we were able to get it.

In San Diego...

Two women have been detained after a search of their car revealed a hidden

compartment stuffed full of prescription medication.

I don't know if it's in under here. Actually, oh, it is.

Yeah, it's all in here, too.

There's a lot more hidden than Officer Roque initially thought.

So I'll have to open all this up.

Yeah, I thought... Actually,

it looks like it stops right here.

So, I thought it stopped right in here.

That way.

It goes all the way down.

I've never seen this before, so I'm not sure what kind of shampoo it is.

So, I'll have to look it up.

This anti-dandruff shampoo isn't prohibited, but bringing in large

commercial amounts without declaring it is against the law.

I think that's all of it.

For smuggling shampoo, as well as the diet pill. The driver of the vehicle is

facing a significant penalty, typically three times the value of what's found.

Every pill and bottle must be counted.

All right, this might take a little while.

So each one of these has 20, so 20 times 15 times all this is going to be a

decent amount of money.

All right, so that should be 20 right there.

I doubt they need to lose as much weight, so they're going to probably

sell to someone, some market somewhere or somewhere.

A packet of diet pills bought in Mexico for $16.

could sell for twice as much on the black market.

But taking them comes with risks because the pills contain the appetite

suppressant centermine and long-term use can lead to drug dependency.

People can abuse this substance.

So people buying this off the street or from a market somewhere or from someone,

they can be abused and it can cause people issues. So if people are taking

too much of this medication, they can have a serious medical condition.

In total,

11,400 pills are counted alongside 260 bottles of shampoo, adding up to a

retail value of over $10,000.

We're going to go into our office here.

Issue the penalty.

So you can make two choices. You can either agree to pay the penalty or

contest it.

So, um, you had a bunch of medication in your vehicle, okay?

I noticed.

So, um...

Since it's the woman's first time being caught,

her fine is reduced to $2,500.

Despite owning the vehicle, the woman denies all knowledge of the medication

and says she will be appealing her charge.

Okay. Okay. That's your copy? Okay. Okay. And then I'll get your friend,

okay? Okay.

Outside, her friend is also facing punishment.

The loss of her trusted traveler status.

Since you're traveling with her and you're both smuggling medication across

the border, your sentries are being lifted.

My sentries? Yeah.

Since you're both crossed and they're... It wasn't my fault.

Her vehicle had a lot of concealed medication, so she was issued a penalty

and all medication that was concealed within the vehicle was seized. I don't

have your friend.

You don't understand that there was medication concealed within your

dashboard. We're informing you right now that there was medication within the

vehicle.

Yes, and we're telling you right now that there was medication within the

vehicle. You're good to go, okay?

This woman has escaped a heavy fine, but both travelers have lost their sentry

cards, adding hours to their future border crossings.

The Camino Real Bridge links the city of Eagle Pass with Piedras Negras, Mexico.

I'm just looking at the natural voids that these pickups have, but this one

right now looks good.

Officers stay vigilant for signs of anything unusual or suspicious.

We have to process vehicles.

you know, in a timely manner. But then also you have to, you know, realize

which ones are kind of iffy or you don't like the story or something.

So really the officers only have, you know, less than a minute, sometimes less

than 30 seconds to process a vehicle, right? So that's one of the challenges

that our officers face.

Even at midnight, the cars are still streaming in, and the driver with a

missing front license plate heading to Mexico has been flagged for further

inspection.

We didn't have a front plate, so that was my first issue with it.

Once I stopped it, I saw he had multiple boxes.

Boxes are typically what we call here in Cargos, or they're taking parcels or

packages on behalf of somebody else from Mexico.

The man has also told Officer Figueroa that the pickup belongs to someone else.

The man's claim to be driving his friend's truck across the border while

he has dinner raises more questions for Officer Figueroa.

The man's story isn't adding up.

A discrepancy

in the vehicle's registration papers is yet another red flag.

He's the owner.

He's telling me that his friend's name, which is the owner of the vehicle, is

Alfonso. So that doesn't match.

With growing doubts over who actually owns the vehicle and its cargo, officers

begin to suspect the driver could be carrying out illicit activity for a

cartel. Stand by.

They will need to search the car for further clues.

The Ambassador Bridge links Windsor, Canada with Detroit, Michigan.

Every day, almost $320 million worth of goods from Canada cross in trucks bound

for the U.S.

How you doing, sir? Good afternoon.

Officers are always on the lookout for anything illegal entering the country.

I'm going to send you to registry, okay? So what you're going to do is...

You're going to stay to your right, go around, and then you're going to see a

sign for x-rays.

Including agricultural items that could be carrying insects and pests harmful to

U.S. crops.

All right, just come right over here with me.

Right over here, sir.

I'm going to have you bring your truck, pop your steel, open your door, and back

all the way to door number four. Door number four. Okay. All right, perfect.

Today.

Agriculture specialist Garza is carrying out a series of plot checks on inbound

trucks. He's called in container full of flowers.

Today we're going to be looking at some plants, plant commodities. We're going

to be looking for live mites, slugs, snails, plant diseases.

These species can be harmful to America's agriculture.

We're trying to do our best to safeguard that.

Even though these flowers have come from a pest-controlled greenhouse in Canada,

there could still be bugs hidden within.

Maybe we can find anything here.

Using his flashlight, Officer Garza begins the first step of his inspection.

He focuses on a cross-section of the shipment.

I don't see anything so far.

Any track marks, any bite marks, or anything just that stands out out of the

normal, it's not always guaranteed that it's going to be a pest-free

plant.

So that's why it's always good just to check, do a visual inspection, a

thorough visual inspection on these.

So there's something right over here.

It's a little bitty thing.

If the insect Officer Garza has spotted turns out to be an invasive species, the

entire shipment will be refused entry into the U.S., costing the shipper

thousands of dollars.

In Eagle Pass, a driver has been stopped when attempting to cross from the U.S.

into Mexico.

He admits he doesn't own the car he's driving,

but the name he's given as the owner doesn't correlate with the vehicle's

registration.

The name that the driver provided doesn't match the paperwork that he gave

me on the title of the vehicle, nor the insurance.

He claims he's transporting the truck and boxes for a friend, but officers

suspect he's being used by a cartel.

So that's why I'm still not satisfied with whatever is going with this vehicle

right now.

So we'll unload everything, scan it through, do a physical inspection of the

vehicle, make sure everything is good.

Nine times out of ten, the people that...

are taking these items to Mexico. They don't inspect the stuff.

And the people take advantage of that to try to hide contraband, weapons, ammo,

money, things like that.

He's responsible for everything that's in the vehicle.

So if we get to find something, it's his fault.

Large TV.

Hey, Figueroa.

So far, no anomalies.

This is the golden nugget.

These compressors are famous for having stuff inside that's not supposed to be.

But not this time.

Clean.

The load is given the all clear, but drug cartels are known to hide

contraband inside a vehicle's bodywork.

The pickup is sent for an x-ray.

10-4, stand by.

Jacob? 20-20.

20-20?

See what dark masses we see in the back of the compartment and where it's

supposed to lie.

Nothing suspicious is spotted within the truck, but Officer Rodriguez sees

something else unusual.

The vehicle plate is filled with a plastic film which covers up your

license plate. You won't be able to read it.

It's got a film on it.

Hi.

It's going to have a plastic film on the numbers.

They're somewhere here.

Once the vehicle went through, the license plate reader didn't pick up the

license plate. When you see the picture of the license plate reader, it's all

blacked out.

has been deliberately tampered with to stop the car from being tracked by

vehicle recognition cameras.

This concealment and the driver not knowing the car's real owner are all

signs that the vehicle might be stolen.

In Detroit, a shipment of flowers from Canada has been sent for inspection.

To enter the U.S., all plants must be free of any harmful pests that can

damage crops.

So there's something right over here.

It's a little bitty thing.

Officer Garza thinks he may have spotted an insect in the plants, so he wants to

carry out a more detailed inspection on some of the flowers.

So we'll just get a sample of everything.

Mix it all in there.

And this is just for micro-sized insects, organisms that we may find.

If it's not admissible, then the truck gets rejected back to Canada, and it

will be given an emergency action notice to be re-delivered and be fumigated for

these bugs.

So that's one pile right there.

Even insects not seen by the naked eye can carry diseases.

To catch these microscopic creatures, Officer Garza uses a special kit.

This is what's known as Berlaci funnels.

They're just heat lamps.

That releases all the moisture from the plant, so all the bugs, insects,

anything like that will fall down this funnel, and we'll put a little tray full

of alcohol.

And they would all fall down there, and then from there we'll collect the

samples that we find.

So what we're going to do now is we're going to juice these containers up,

filling it up with alcohol so all the animal or any little insects that fall

into here will stay in there.

So all we're going to do here is just stuff our Berlaci funnel.

Turn this on just like that and put it right over.

And it will give these about 30, 40 minutes.

That's where it could dry up completely and let all that organisms fall through.

As the plants dry out, Officer Garza inspects one last plant sample looking

for bugs.

What we can do here is just try to shake, see if anything comes out. In

2024, almost 80,000 citations were issued to commercial vehicles crossing

with contaminated produce, preventing...

Millions of dollars worth of damage to U.S. agriculture.

A deprimental insect coming into the United States could be as harmful as any

drug shipments found.

So it's always good just to check.

Like the slogan says, don't pack a pest.

So far, nothing has been discovered.

But if anything suspicious is found in the Berlazi funnels, then all the

flowers will be returned.

See what we got.

So these have been on for about 20, 30 minutes for now.

There's that set.

So yeah, there are some mites, but like I said, they're microscopic, so these

are not actionable.

The search has found only harmless mites.

Let's go ahead and check this one right here.

Some mites, all that little bunched up.

The mites that will be found here will be microscopic.

So this shipment is good to go. Release them and we'll let them down the road.

These plants are coming from a Canadian greenhouse.

They did a good job cleaning and making sure that they're pesticide free.

The dry verandas flowers are clear to continue on their journey.

I'll make somebody's mom or dad happy with these flowers.

In Eagle Pass, a driver crossing into Mexico with a suspicious truck has been

stopped. Officers have discovered the license plate has been tampered with.

They get concealed with a plastic film which covers up your license plate. You

won't be able to read it.

It's got a film on it.

Here in Eagle Pass, we have a lot of tendencies of vehicles going outbound.

They are stolen.

These type of trucks, they're used a lot by the cartels.

They use it for type of payment or for doing their crimes over there in Mexico.

Concerned the vehicle might be stolen.

Officers decide to run a check on its serial number, known as the VIN.

You've got to identify the VIN to make sure it matches the VIN on the

windshield. Criminals sometimes fraudulently change the VIN marked on a

vehicle's exterior to mask its theft.

The machine that we have, that we connected to that port, and we can

actually look for the original VIN number that's embedded within the

program of the computer. If it doesn't match...

then you probably have a stolen vehicle.

This time, the vehicle identification number is a match and the car hasn't

been reported as stolen.

With questions remaining about the car's ownership, officers ask

the driver to call his friend.

He admits he doesn't own the car either.

He says he was paid to pick it up in Indiana and take it south.

Officer Figueroa now suspects the man has been asked to drive over a newly

purchased car that hasn't been declared to customs officials.

The person, he didn't give me a name, the person who had the vehicle over in

upstate Indiana.

Tell them to bring it down.

The thing is, yes, you can export a vehicle to Mexico. There's no issues

with it, but there's a process.

And that process starts with us. As U.S. Customs and Border Protection, you have

to bring it for exportation 72 hours prior of the vehicle exiting through a

port of entry into another country.

By not declaring the car, the owner was trying to avoid all the paperwork. But

now, the vehicle and its contents are being impounded.

The driver is free to go.

On foot, he won't face any charges for helping out a friend.

So right now, everything's going to Eagle Path PD in Paola. And tomorrow,

the person who's the owner of everything can get in contact with the

investigators in Eagle Path PD so he can retrieve all his belongings.