[narrator] The San Ysidro port of entry
is the busiest land border crossing
in the Western Hemisphere.
Every day, 90,000 people pass through it.
[officer] 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.
[Cortez] You mind opening the trunk?
Being here at the border,
it's not like civilian police departments
where you're gonna 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.
It's not long before the K-9
leads Officer Bumphus 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.
A secret compartment is stuffed full
of what looks like prescription medication.
[officer over radio] K-9 to secondary.
We found something.
-Mike, Mike. -Go ahead.
Powder.
Are we gonna be taken to jail?
We have to do what we have to do.
[officer speaking]
US citizen, sir?
Look at the camera here, take a step back.
On any given day, there are over 2 million outstanding
arrest warrants for wanted criminals in the US.
You need one ID or two IDs?
No, no, no, I don't need the military one.
-OK, that's the -- -Sir, look at the camera, please.
Everyone returning from Mexico...
Thank you for your service, all right?
...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 warrant.
Right now, there's no information about what crime
the woman is wanted for.
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 Marin runs the woman's fingerprints...
[Marin] There we go. Go like this.
But keep this right here.
...to check that her ID matches the warrant.
[Marin] 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.
OK, ma'am, you can step 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 Marin 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.
[husband and suspect speaking]
So did the supervisor speak to you already?
[Marin] So here's the thing, OK?
She came out as a positive for a warrant,
an outstanding warrant out of Gainesville, Texas.
[Marin] For larceny.
OK.
-She said she's never -- -[husband speaking]
Like I'm saying, you have a job? Do you work?
OK. So you do your job.
We're just doing our job. That's it.
We're going [indistinct].
-[husband speaking] -Right.
Right, she informed me about that.
You know --
We've seen -- we've seen everything,
and occupation, title, that's irrelevant
to who gets arrested, who doesn't.
But I understand where you're coming from.
I'm just letting you know this is your opportunity
to speak to her right now.
[suspect speaking]
[Marin] I was reading her body language,
and he was kind of like, "What?"
And she was like, "The check."
At the San Ysidro crossing...
...a woman and her friend returning to the US
have been detained
after a search of their vehicle,
uncovered medication hidden in the dashboard.
[Bumphus] It 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.
[Bumphus] And there's medicine also in here.
The two women entered the border in the fast lane,
used only for pre-vetted drivers holding a SENTRI pass.
The amount smuggled in is assigned to Supervisor Walker.
It's not for personal use.
The car is taken to a secure area where Officer Rauk
will carry out a thorough search.
Dashboards are a pretty common concealing method.
People will 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 Four 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 US,
creating a black market for smuggled pills.
[Rauk] I don't know how much more is in here, so I'll have to check
in the dashboard over and see if there's anything else
hidden anywhere else.
It's shampoo. I guess it's some sort
of medical shampoo, I have no idea.
I don't know if it's in under here.
Actually -- oh, it is. Yeah, so it's all in here too.
So I'll have to open all this up.
2 OK, ma'am, you can step out.
You can put your shoes on.
In Progreso, 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 y'all talking about in November?
-[husband speaking] -Mm-hmm.
[suspect and husband speaking]-
'22, '23.
The couple paid a man to do some work on their property.
They wrote a check, which bounced.
[husband speaking]
Thank you. OK, 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.
[Marin] 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 gonna take over,
could ask -- she could ask them.
[Marin] Like I said, they're gonna answer your --
your questions.
Ma'am, can you give him the purse and then --
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 -- yeah, right there.
[husband] All right.
-You're good. -[suspect] I know.
All right.
An officer from Hidalgo County arrives to make their arrest.
-Need a copy of this too. -Yes sir.
-Step on out, he's gonna give you instructions, OK? -[suspect] OK.
Hello ma'am.
-Are you [bleep]? -[suspect] Yes.
I'm picking you up because you got a warrant
out of Cooke County.
So, we'll take you into custody to our county jail
and they'll pick you up from our county jail
and take you back to Cooke County, OK?
So I'm gonna put the cuffs on you.
-Thank you, sir. Have a good one. -Thank you very much.
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.
Every day, around 10,000 people cross the Camino Real bridge.
Among the travelers are paqueteros, unofficial couriers
carrying goods across the southern border.
[officers and traveler speaking in Spanish]
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 it.
Today, a courier entering into Mexico with a trailer
has been sent to secondary inspection.
[Ruiz] 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 paqueteros cargo.
[officer speaking Spanish]
Suspicious that the trailer may contain contraband,
officers put the whole shipment through an X-ray machine.
Nothing yet.
[dog barking]
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 K-9.
Try to hide the smell or the odor of the firearm.
That way our K-9 doesn't hit on it.
But in this case,
we were able to locate it using the X-ray.
Let's just check everything.
Because Mexico has strict laws
preventing the purchase of guns,
every year, around 150,000 firearms are smuggled
into the country by criminal gangs.
[Ruiz] 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.
2 In San Diego, two women have been detained
after a search of their car revealed a hidden compartment
stuffed full of prescription medication.
[Rauk] I don't know if it's in under here -- actually, oh, it is.
Yeah, so it's all in here, too.
There's a lot more hidden
than Officer Rauk initially thought.
[Rauk] So I'll have to open all this up.
-Yeah, so it's -- -How far does it go?
[Rauk] Um, actually, it looks like it stops right here.
So I saw it's about right in here -- that or -- 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.
It's a hole down here on this side.
-In here? -Under, yeah, through here.
Ooh.
I think that's all of it.
For smuggling shampoo, as well as the diet pills,
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.
[Rauk] All right, this might take a little while.
So, each one of these has 20,
so 20 times 15, times all this,
it's gonna be a decent amount of money.
All right, so that should be 20 right there.
I highly doubt they need to lose this much weight.
So they're gonna 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 phentermine,
and long-term use can lead to drug dependency.
People can abuse this substance, so people buying this, like,
off the street or some market somewhere or from someone,
they can be abused, and it can, like, you know, it can cause people issues,
so people are taking too much of this medication,
they could 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.
[Rauk] We're gonna get her into our office here,
issue her the penalty. She can make two choices.
She can either agree to pay the penalty or contest it.
So, um, you had a bunch of medication in your vehicle, OK?
[driver speaking]
So, um, since you concealed the medication and you didn't
declare it, we do have to issue a penalty today, OK?
This is your first offense doing this,
so we're going to go ahead and mitigate, OK?
Since it's the woman's first time being caught,
her fine is reduced to $2,500.
[Rauk] You want to contest it?
Despite owning the vehicle, the woman denies all knowledge
of the medication and says she will be
appealing her charge.
I would say do it in three days, the sooner the better.
-That's your copy, OK. -OK.
-And then I'll get your friend, OK? -OK.
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 SENTRIs are being lifted.
Yes, since you're both crossed and then...
[Rauk] 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.
You don't understand that there was medication concealed
within her dashboard.
We're informing you right now that there was medication
within the vehicle. -[passenger] Something.
Yes, and we're telling you right now that there's
medication within the vehicle. You're good to go, OK?
This woman has escaped a heavy fine,
but both travelers have lost their SENTRI cards,
adding hours to their future border crossings.
In Eagle Pass, a courier has been detained after being
caught smuggling a weapon into Mexico.
[Ruiz] 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 gonna wanna 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
and 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 gonna stay here in our possession.
They're gonna be seized, and the rest of the items that
the gentleman was carrying with him,
he's gonna 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
has labeled the cartel a terrorist organization
and this form, we have 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 to have cartel links,
he could then be arrested.
It wasn't a good thing that they were having this firearm
hidden within these containers,
and good thing we were able to get it.
2 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 US.
How you doing, sir? Good afternoon.
Officers are always on the lookout for anything
illegal entering the country...
I'm gonna send you through X-ray, OK?
So, what you're gonna do is you're gonna stay to your right,
go around, and then you're going to see a sign for X-ray.
...including agricultural items that could be carrying insects
and pests harmful to US crops.
All right, just come over. Right over here with me.
Right over here, sir.
-I'm gonna have you bring your truck... -OK.
-...pop your seal, open your door... -OK.
...back all the way to door number four.
-Door number four. All right, sir, thanks. -OK.
Today, agriculture specialist Garza is carrying out a series
of spot checks on inbound trucks.
He's called in container full of flowers.
Today, we're gonna be looking
at some plants, plant commodities.
We're gonna 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.
Let's see if 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 gonna 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 here'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 US,
costing the shipper thousands of dollars.
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.
[Huerta] You 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.
[officer over radio] Got a vehicle coming in
from lane seven to [indistinct] number three.
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.
[Figueroa] It 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 "encargos,"
or they're taking parcels or packages
on behalf of somebody else to Mexico.
[Figueroa speaking in Spanish]
The man has also told Officer Figueroa
that the pickup belongs to someone else.
[Figueroa and driver speaking]
The man's claim to be driving his friend's truck across
the border while he has dinner
raises more questions for Officer Figueroa.
Alfonso, OK.
The man's story isn't adding up.
Very vague responses, because obviously he doesn't
know the answers to what I was trying to get from him.
It didn't make sense why he needed to be crossing
the vehicle on behalf of his friend.
A discrepancy in the vehicle's registration papers
is yet another red flag.
So the paperwork says [bleep] is 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 driver could be
carrying out illicit activity for a cartel.
10-4, stand by.
They will need to search the car for further clues.
2 In Detroit, a shipment of flowers from Canada
has been sent for inspection.
To enter the US, all plants must be free
of any harmful pests that can damage crops.
[Garza] 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.
[Garza] So I'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 Berlese funnels.
They're just heat lamps.
That releases all the moisture from the plants,
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 will all fall down there, and then from there
we'll collect the samples that we find.
So what we're gonna 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 gonna do here is just stuff
our Berlese funnel.
Just turn this on just like that and put it right over.
And we'll give these about 30, 40 minutes just so it can
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 US agriculture.
A detrimental insect coming into the United States could be
as harmful as any drug shipment 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 Berlese 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.
[Garza] I'm just gonna check this one right here.
Some mites, all that little bunched up.
Like I said, the mites that will be found here
will be microscopic.
So this shipment's good to go.
Release them and we'll let them down the road.
These plants were coming from a Canadian greenhouse.
They did a good job cleaning
and making sure that they're pesticide-free.
The driver and his flowers are cleared to continue
on their journey.
It'll make somebody's mom or dad happy with these flowers.
In Eagle Pass,
a driver has been stopped when attempting to cross
from the US into Mexico.
[Figueroa and driver speaking]
Alfonso, OK.
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.
[Ruiz] Nine times out of ten, these 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. It's 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.
[officer over radio] Z-port, Z-port, are we up?
10-4, stand by.
Nothing suspicious is spotted within the truck,
but Officer Rodriguez sees something else unusual.
License.
It's got to have a plastic film on the numbers.
They're somewhere here.
[Figueroa] Once the vehicle went through,
the license plate reader didn't pick up the license plate.
When you see the picture on the license plate reader,
it's all blacked out.
The plate 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.
2 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.
[Rodriguez speaking]
Here in Eagle Pass, we have a lot of tendencies
of vehicles going outbound that are stolen.
These type of trucks, they're used a lot
by the cartels.
They use it for type of payments 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.
Criminals sometimes fraudulently change
the VIN marked on a vehicle's exterior
to mask its theft.
The machine that we have,
that we connected through 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.
[machine beeping]
This time, the vehicle identification number is a match,
and the car hasn't been reported as stolen.
[Figueroa and driver speaking]
With questions remaining about the car's ownership,
officers ask the driver to call his friend.
[phone ringing]
Alfonso?
He admits he doesn't own the car either and 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
told him 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 US 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 Pass PD impound lot,
and tomorrow, the person who's the owner of everything
can get in contact with the investigators in Eagle Pass PD,
so he can retrieve all his belongings.