Original subtitles

Every day, 5,000 cargo vehicles cross the 3.2-mile-far bridge in Texas,

making it one of the busiest trucking routes in America.

The most common thing on this port is what we call transfers.

Thank you.

Drivers that are transfers, they just pick up the tractor-trailers on the

Mexican side and just drive them over. That's their job.

For truck drivers, the transfer route offers a steady source of income, but

can make them vulnerable to exploitation.

This morning, a fuel tanker trying to enter in the fast lane is selected for

inspection.

This lane is normally used with drivers that have a fast cart, which means that

they're pre-vetted.

It's been a trend lately that we need to double-check drivers that have FAST, as

we say.

You know that local cartel is finding new ways.

They're getting a hold of people that have good records, FAST cardholders, to

get their narcotics across.

The tanker that entered through the FAST lane is extra.

How does it look?

So far, I'm looking around at the basics.

So far, it feels good.

The tanker is clean, so Officer Rodriguez checks the cap.

Looking at this, I think you should take a look at this area right here, yeah.

There's an unusual shape in the driver's sleeping compartment.

Some type of rectangle that are actually darker than the surrounding area.

It's an anomaly right here, actually.

We found something.

Mike, Mike. Are we going to be put in jail? We have to do what we have to do.

Can you load on the back window, please?

How many in the vehicle?

There are nearly 7 million outstanding warrants in the U.S. for wanted

criminals.

What did you go do in Mexico?

Any fugitives returning to American soil... Are you bringing anything back

with you?

...risk being stopped by customs and border protection officers.

Today, at the Progreso Bridge, a young woman returning home from a shopping

trip to Mexico has been detained.

Right now, I have a subject that attempted to enter the United States.

She's a U.S. citizen.

Upon running her name, the primary officer saw that she has a warrant.

She's just been doing her own thing, living her life, roaming around the U.S.

with no issues because she hadn't had contact with law enforcement.

The woman claims to know nothing about the warrant.

I'm going to take your fingerprints, okay?

Stand up.

Your left hand, four fingers, right here.

Her prints are taken to confirm her identity.

Where did you go to in Mexico today, ma'am?

Today? It was my first time, so they were showing me a bunch of shops.

And where do you live?

Relax your head.

What do you do for a living?

What do you do there? What happened there?

Have you ever been arrested?

Okay,

we're going to go right into the cell until we know what's going on with you,

okay?

Further details about the warrant have come through.

It's a no-bond warrant for military desertion.

This is actually my first time I am seeing a warrant for military desertion.

I had never seen it before. It's very uncommon.

Military desertion is the unauthorized and permanent abandonment of duty

without permission.

It can carry up to 10 years in jail.

With very few details, In a serious charge, Officer Pena digs deeper into

her story.

Do you know more or less what's going on or not really?

The woman pleads ignorant.

But Officer Pena delivers the bad news.

She

is

saying that she attempted to go to the military and that on her way over there,

she did not feel very well. She decided that she was not going to make it.

Nobody told her she was going to have a warrant for military desertion. So she

thinks to not be aware of...

why this happened.

At Farbridge, a fuel tanker being driven by a pre-approved driver with a fast

pass has been stopped.

It's an anomaly right here, actually.

Suspicious shapes in the driver's sleeping compartment have shown up in an

x-ray. Some type of rectangles that are actually...

While the driver is detained in the cells, the tanker

is taken to a secure area where Officer Hinojosa immediately spots more

irregularities.

We make our way back here, we'll be able to see that the sleeper's supposed to be

standing on airbags.

For some reason, they were taken off.

They zero in on this area.

The anomaly was underneath the mattress.

Got all his personal boots.

Ah, but you can see there's a break here on the floor.

And that's fiberglass, right? Yes.

This sleeper is normally made out of cheap metal, so there shouldn't be any

fiberglass.

There's a mat.

There's a compartment.

The cab's been modified to create a hidden storage area beneath the driver's

bed. Oh, I see something.

You see that?

We got bundles.

You got it?

In Progreso, a young woman returning from a trip to Mexico has been detained.

She has a warrant for military desertion.

Officer Pena is informed that the woman deserted from Fort Sill Military Academy

in Oklahoma five years ago.

Although the woman claims she didn't know she had a warrant out for her

arrest, she'll be picked up by the local sheriff and handed over to the military.

Does Fort Sill ring a bell or anything?

After

you left

the hospital, like you didn't contact them?

So you just didn't follow up with them?

You feel like maybe that's why they put a warrant out?

So what made you go in there in the first place?

Oh,

okay. So it's kind of like a family tradition to join the military.

I believe her heart was in the right place enlisting because of her brother.

She was not prepared to make that life-changing decision since she was

super young.

She will ultimately have to face the consequences of not going through her

choice of enlisting.

Officer Pena informs the girl's traveling companion that her friend

won't be coming home tonight.

So they are going to come and pick her up.

Salvo County.

She's going to get arrested, okay?

She's your friend?

I'm sorry.

But she seems to be taking it away.

It didn't come out now. It was going to come out later if she went on a trip

flying anywhere. So I think it's better for her to arrange that now and fix it.

Any other questions?

No?

You're welcome. Have a good one.

Can I have your name and badge number?

Law enforcement arrives to make their arrest.

Overwhelmed by the situation, the woman starts to feel unwell.

When Hidalgo County came, she started to get visibly sick. She asked for a trash

can because she was about to throw up.

And it is just very interesting how the same thing happened to her when she was

going to her basic training.

With no bond allowed, she will be extradited to a military base in

Oklahoma.

and could be locked up for the foreseeable future.

Very important for somebody if they're going to make that kind of decision to

really do their research and be very sure because these are the consequences

that will follow.

Now she is going to jail. She's going to get arrested and face a charge of

desertion because she did not follow through the whole enlistment.

Eagle Pass International Bridge links the city of Piedras Negras in Mexico

with Eagle Pass, Texas.

It's a popular route for the 30% of Texans who have friends and family in

Mexico. And the purpose of your trip?

Well, I came to pick up the grandma.

This afternoon, an SUV has been stopped.

We have a vehicle that was returned from Mexico.

It was sent to inspection.

It smells like marijuana.

We're going to have seven points and go from there.

The vehicle belongs to a man who's returning home with his nephew after a

family gathering.

It smells like weed in there. Do you smell it?

Oh, yeah.

You can kind of see some residue.

Looks like residue.

This vehicle was referred in due to a strong odor of marijuana.

We searched through the vehicle. I did find a small jar with what looks like

residue here behind the LED screen. They have what appears to be a pipe with

some residue.

Due to the strong smell, they're concerned a larger stash of marijuana

might be hidden in the vehicle.

It's sent for an x-ray.

Every vehicle can have, like, secret compartments. It's just a matter of

finding them.

A good area would be this area right here, the dash.

Engine is a big block, so you can hide stuff there. Like, anywhere you can

think of, they can hide things.

The scan comes up clean.

I didn't see anything.

But officers are still not convinced the pair isn't hiding something.

They

bring

in a canine to conduct a body search.

If the dog detects any drugs, It will alert.

No alert is made, so the uncle and his nephew are clean.

We go to test it.

But while the search has turned up only a small amount of suspected marijuana.

Because it's illegal to cross the border with any amount of the narcotic, the men

could still be liable for a penalty.

So we're going to have an officer test the residue. If it's positive, we're

going to charge the driver a $500 fine.

But before a fine is determined, outside, events have taken an unexpected

turn.

The younger man has been violently sick, causing officers... to be concerned.

In Farr,

officers have discovered packets of suspected narcotics hidden in the cab of

an empty fuel tanker.

Here's another.

The cab's been modified to create a hidden storage area beneath the driver's

bed. A very good, sophisticated compartment.

They didn't get luck this time.

There you go.

The secret compartment is packed full.

Dirty. Dirty packages.

That's great, man.

That was the last one.

That's what I call an empty compartment right there.

The bundles are taken to the seizure room to be processed.

I strongly believe it's going to be cocaine, but it could be crystal meth.

Using laser analysis, the testing kit can identify over 14,000 substances,

including all the common narcotics.

Just enough so I can shoot my laser in there.

And sure enough, my guess was correct.

100% cocaine.

All 30 packages contain cocaine.

We're going to go ahead and transfer the 30 packages over to our scale, and we're

going to determine the weight.

Over 90% of cocaine headed to the U.S. from South America travels through

Mexico.

and every package that's intercepted disrupts that train.

34.56 kilos of cocaine.

Even if the driver was coerced by a criminal gang, he's likely to be facing

significant jail time.

Today's bus has taken drugs with an estimated street value of over $1

million out of the hands of the cartels and their dealers.

It's a significant amount.

and we are stopping that narcotic from entering the United States.

It was the teamwork, and it was a great result.

The Texas-Mexico border is the busiest international crossing in the world. Any

kind of medication with you today?

No, I got coconut.

Officers here rely on experience, intuition, and instinct to spot when

someone is lying.

This afternoon in Progreso, Officer

Cantu is vetting travelers in the pedestrian lane.

A dentist appointment. Where do you live?

Mississippi.

You live in Mississippi now? No.

When did you get here?

Literally now at 4.30 when I got here.

From Mississippi?

Yeah, I was traveling for 25 hours.

And when are you headed back?

Tomorrow. So you came just for the dentist?

That's it? No medicine with you? No nothing? No, nothing. They didn't give

you anything? What did they do to you?

Cleaning.

The woman claims to have driven 25 hours for a 15-minute dental appointment.

Who's your dentist?

She's a female one. The only female one, actually, from there.

I don't know her name.

Give me a favor, ma'am.

Officer Cantu sends her for further questioning.

So you have nothing with you? No. Nothing on you? No?

Okay. We're going to have some options. We're going to talk to you right now,

okay?

So I'm sending in a single female from Mississippi.

She said she came down on a one-day trip to see the dentist.

She said she got here around 15 minutes ago.

Went across, spent just a little bit of time, and it's coming right back.

It doesn't make sense.

Officer Cantu thinks it could be a cover story for something else.

They might have come down to deliver something, maybe drop off some money or

pick up some contraband, take it back.

A thorough inspection will determine whether the woman has something to hide.

Yes, you're in the port of entry and you're subject to an inspection and

you're in an inspection area.

Boy, am I in trouble for something?

You're being inspected.

For what?

You're not under arrest. You're just being detained at the moment while you

get inspected.

This is called border search authority.

Anybody that leaves the country and comes back to the U.S. is subject to an

inspection.

Two men returning home from Mexico.

Looks like residue.

Have been caught with a small amount of marijuana.

But while officers are determining what penalty the pair will face, one has

suddenly gotten sick.

So the passenger in the vehicle is feeling sick. He's been vomiting. We've

asked him a couple times if he wanted an ambulance. He's refused.

Worried the man may be more ill than he's letting on, a trained medical

officer is called to the scene.

He's there.

What's going on with you?

Feeling a little sick?

Did you eat anything before you came here?

No? Let me ask you something. How old are you?

18?

What I'm going to do is I'm going to put this on your finger.

A normal resting heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats

per minute.

The man's is 140.

which is dangerously high and could indicate a serious problem.

He

denies

taking any drugs, so Officer Barrientos checks his blood sugar.

Low levels could cause drowsiness.

But the reading is normal.

It

seems

a night of partying and a day in the heat has proven too much for this young

man. We're down here in the south. Here the temperatures go up to 80s, 90s, and

sometimes at 100.

So people sweat all the time, but they don't understand that once people stop

sweating, they're in greater health danger than they actually think.

Do you want to go to the hospital?

Do you want to go to the hospital?

Can you call the ambulance for me?

Weak and unable to stand, the man agrees to go to the hospital for treatment.

We weren't sure if the young man was overdosing or what he had been taking,

so we took some precautions, hopefully helped him out.

We're not just here to look at the enforcement side of things, to hook

people up if they have warrants and stuff like that. We always want to look

out for the person themselves.

If they're sick or if they're not well, we want to make sure we're taking care

of them.

But the teenager's uncle isn't free to go yet.

He'll only be allowed to leave once he's settled the $500 fine.

So the gentleman was issued a penalty.

He's taking care of that. And hopefully he's on his way to the hospital to go

check on his family member who he's riding with.

At Progreso Bridge, a woman is being questioned.

She claims she drove 800 miles to Mexico for dental work and is now returning

home.

Leading officers to suspect it's a cover story for something else.

They might have come down to deliver something, maybe drop off some money or

pick up some contraband, take it back.

Am I in trouble for something?

Knowing you're being inspected.

For what?

You're not under arrest. You're just being detained at the moment while you

get inspected.

Any other questions?

Do you have anything on your person?

Where do you reside? Where do you live?

I don't have anything.

Just that.

We can do one of these two ways.

You go through with the inspection, and it's easier on you to get you out of

here. You want to keep doing this, the runaround.

How difficult you want to make it is entirely up to you.

Her unwillingness to comply is a red flag for officers.

So where do you live?

You're not going to answer any questions?

Convinced that the woman is hiding contraband.

Somebody who complies has nothing to hide.

Officers decide to carry out a physical search.

Do you have anything? No. With you on your person, in your person, nothing?

She wasn't cooperating with us, so that was the reason for the pat-down. It's

more suspicion. She didn't want to answer easy questions.

The body search finds nothing, but she's not free to go yet.

I'm checking to see if she has any hits that we need to look forward to.

Officer Gutierrez runs a criminal background check.

If she has any warrant, she doesn't.

Both the body search and woman's record are clean, although officers still have

their suspicions.

She might be doing just what we call the test run. If she comes across, does a

quick surveillance of the way that we run things around here, and then she'll

be back at a later date to compete.

whatever she wants to get done.

We're going to go ahead and release her. She's beautiful.

Do you have any questions about what happened?

From now on, her crossing history will be closely monitored.

Come with us.

Officers who commit to a career in Customs and Border Protection come from

a variety of backgrounds.

I'm legacy, I guess.

And for some, joining is a family affair.

My dad's a Border Patrol agent.

Once I was graduating college, I was like, well, I guess I'll try it.

And I ended up here and I liked it.

Growing up, it was really cool to have a dad that was... fighting crime and kind

of looking out for the country.

Hola, chiquito!

He has around 25 years in, so being able to have the old knowledge come in

is very useful, honestly.

And maybe past trends that you'll see repeat again, it's very useful to have.

¿Cómo estás?

Hola. Buenas tardes.

This afternoon at the Camino Real crossing, Officer Oliveira has pulled

over a driver.

He's been sent for further investigation after attempting to bring in a

hunting trophy.

No firearms, right? No firearms.

Perfect. Any ammo?

No. Really quickly, can you do me a favor? Can you remove the knife and put

it on the seat or in the anything?

Yeah, thank you.

The legal hunting is a significant problem in Mexico, so the man must

prove his kill is legitimate. Okay, you can go ahead and put him over there on

the table.

It's just one trophy?

Yes, it's just one trophy.

All right.

It's a hunting trophy.

They have to be registered. It'll have a tag and then match the paperwork.

Almost similar for hunters to bring in a gun. Everything needs to match.

But something isn't adding up.

The hunter admits to using the same tag on a previous crossing with the

harvested venison.

Officer Barrera wants to run some checks.

Whether I believe him that he's lying or not, the problem is that the tags are

meant for one-time entries.

So if he used that tag for the deer meat, technically it's been used, it's

been voided. So for him to go back, use the same tag to import the trophy is

where the problem is.

Without proof that the deer head is legal, the man could be suspected of

smuggling.

And a search of his vehicle has revealed something that raises further suspicion.

These aren't tags.

It was underneath a bag.

They have to be registered.

At the northern border, the Ambassador Bridge links

Windsor, Ontario, Canada to the city of Detroit in Michigan.

Purpose of the trip?

Playing or watching?

While most travelers pass through without incident.

Each year, almost 200,000 people are detained.

for problems with their travel document.

Have a safe trip.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Bye-bye.

This morning, a car has been stopped after its occupants failed to produce

any ID at all.

The three men are from Honduras, but they claim that they live in the U.S.

and headed towards Canada by mistake.

More than likely,

This was a wrong turn.

We get a lot of wrong turns here in Detroit where they mistake the highway

and they get on the bridge to Canada.

They turn around on the bridge and then we encounter them here in primary.

When anyone enters a port of entry mistakenly or not, they are subject to

inspection.

And the men's lack of documents is leading officers to suspect.

They're living in the U.S. illegally.

One of the men says his proof of residency

is in the car.

But so far, nothing's been found.

The man claimed to be staying at a hotel in Michigan.

Only the address they've provided doesn't exist.

If they don't have the right documents, they get detained, they get processed,

transported to a detention center until they can get a flight back to their home

country.

As his search continues, a card hidden in the luggage catches Officer Shipman's

attention.

Well, that's not real. This either is an altered or straight counterfeit

LPR card.

And it looks like maybe possibly a Social Security card along with it.

The ID is a permanent residency card.

that belongs to one of the travelers.

Yeah, there's no raised lettering on it either.

No hologram. Yeah, it's a straight counterfeit.

Criminal. Yep, 100%.

At

the Camino Real crossing, a man has been stopped after officers spotted that the

entry requirements for his hunting trophy did not follow legal protocol.

These aren't tagged. It was underneath a bag.

Loose antlers found in his truck have added to concerns he may be smuggling

illicit hunting items.

The man produces some paperwork and is able to prove the antlers, at least, are

legal.

But to eliminate all suspicions of smuggling, he must show that the

buckhead is from the same kill as the meat he crossed on a previous occasion.

The man hopes his forms for the venison will be enough to avoid a fine.

I asked him to get a declaration form for the meat, which he did. So it kind

of puts one and one together.

So I said it was good enough to just make a copy of both declaration forms

and send it down the road.

Officers are satisfied there's no evidence of wrongdoing, and he's

released.

But any future hunting trips will require the proper tax, or he'll be

leaving his prize trophy behind and picking up a penalty instead.

One lonely time, so he'll be happy.

At the U.S.-Canada border, three men, originally from Honduras, are suspected

of living in the U.S. illegally and have been detained.

What looks like a fake ID has been found in one man's bag. That's not real.

As well as some of his immigration documents.

All right, this is some of the paperwork they're looking for.

That's a counterfeit document then, if it's got his name on it.

I'm not sure if that's his true name, so that's another thing we'll have to

identify if that's his true and correct identity or not. That's obviously fake.

Super, super rare up here. I mean, it's almost unheard of. Good catch, Officer

Chipman.

It's a criminal offense to possess a fake ID, so the man will face charges.

But to build their case, officers want to find out more information.

You could face prosecution, possible removal from the United States due to

being in possession of these cards. We handed that over to our fraudulent

document analysis unit.

Further research into his public records shows the man has already been in

trouble with the law.

He's previously been issued with a deportation order and may have evaded

his court date.

The

man

claims the court date is in a few weeks' time, but records prove otherwise.

The subject that we have in custody, he was found with a previous removal order,

which means that he misses initial court dates. The judge said that he needed to

be removed from the United States.

After that, he never left, and that's now how we encountered him.

None of the men can provide proof

that they are legally in the country.

So officers seize all three of their phones to investigate further.

And on one of the devices, the search uncovers shocking images.

We seized the phone, and during that seizure, we came across some criminal

activity.

photos and videos that were very graphic in nature.

It came directly off the subject, and it was in his media.

This phone's owner is seen taking part in what appears to be a cartel-style

execution.

He is immediately locked up.

Every day these threats come up. This one's right in front of us, so we can

take action and prevent more things like this from coming in the United States.

All three men are taken into custody.

pending further investigation.

If you just talk to them briefly, you would never guess that until you went

through their phone, and then that's where all the hidden secrets generally

come out.

As an officer, your job is to protect the homeland, and this is what we're

doing.