[narrator] For decades, Customs and Border Protection has been battling
Mexican cartels who smuggle billions of dollars' worth
of contraband into the United States.
-[Sawyer] Is this your vehicle? -[driver speaking]
Oh, OK. What are you doing over there?
[Padilla] We always have to stay one step ahead of them.
They've got to be smart to be doing this, you know?
They adapt, so sometimes it's pretty hard.
Over that time, cartel tactics have become more
and more sophisticated.
[Vargas speaking]
And now they're taking
smuggling operations to the sky.
Cartel drone activity has increased over 100% easily
within the last couple of years.
As they grow with their technology,
we have to grow.
Officer Vargas is in charge of a new team tasked
with tracking illicit drone activity.
[automated voice] Sensor alert.
Tells us there's something in our airspace.
And since he's steady, we know that he's a drone.
[automated voice] Sensor alert.
[Vargas] Anything that's in our airspace that is not
a friendly, that's unknown, basically, can't be here.
Cartel drones have been used for surveillance,
transporting narcotics and carrying explosives.
[Vargas] We don't know what payload he has or if he has a payload.
We have to take him down as soon as possible.
[officer over radio] K-9 to secondary.
We found something.
-Mike, Mike -Go ahead.
Powder.
Are we gonna be put in jail?
We have to do what we have to do.
World Trade, we're one of the busiest ports on average,
and we get about 6,000 trucks crossing daily.
The World Trade Bridge in Laredo is a critical artery
for US-Mexico trade.
Yeah, how he looks, bro?
-The camotes, broccolis and cauliflower. -Right.
[Cantu] These guys make a living just transferring
from Nuevo Laredo to Laredo.
Once they drop off at the warehouse, they just go
back to Nuevo Laredo and do the process as many times
as they can per day.
Sometimes they cross two times, three times, four times.
But hidden within the billions of dollars worth of goods that
cross this border, cartels attempt to
smuggle narcotics.
The drivers, they're just picking up, dropping off,
picking up, dropping off.
Most of the times, they don't know what they're
carrying or what the trailer has hidden in it.
Today, Officer Cantu and his team have been sent
an 18-wheeler for further examination.
This 18-wheeler got referred from the X-ray
for an anomaly check.
The officer from the X-ray machine sent a referral for us
to check the front wall of the trailer.
So that's what we're gonna focus on.
While the driver is detained, officers begin to inspect
his truck and its cargo.
[Cantu] Right now we're gonna offload all the merchandise,
then we're gonna run the K-9 to see if it alerts,
and then we'll go from there.
[forklift beeping]
Whenever they're sent for inspection, we can keep them
as long as we can.
It can be minutes. It can be hours.
But we have to make sure there's nothing illegal
or any narcotics inside.
K-9, K-9, can you run Bay 74?
The truck is loaded with scrap metal destined
for Texan steel mills.
[handler speaking]
Which shows no signs of narcotics.
So officers move into the trailer itself.
Good boy, good boy.
To verify whether drugs are concealed
behind the trailer's wall,
Officer Cantu drills into the metal panel.
[drill whirring]
[Cantu] Oh.
Oh, we got some white, powdery substance.
This is definitely not supposed to be there.
Looks like cocaine to me.
Hello, sir. How's it going?
-May I see your documents? -Yes, sir.
In close proximity to one of Mexico's main highways,
the Camino Real Bridge in Eagle Pass is popular
with Mexican visitors to the US.
[speaking in Spanish]
Good afternoon.
While some commute for work, others are day trippers out
shopping, and some even plan longer stays.
[speaking in Spanish]
But whatever their purpose, the travelers here tend to pack
their cars with everything they need...
and more.
In the past, I found Mesoamerican beads and statues.
Others here have found Egyptian sarcophagus,
wildlife items.
We find drugs, to live animals, ancient artifacts.
[speaking in Spanish]
[driver] We came back from Allende, Coahuila.
[Arellano] What were y'all doing in Allende?
Well, I came to be with my dad, 'cause he's been sick.
Today, two sisters returning from a three-day trip
to Northern Mexico had been referred to secondary
after officers noticed their car was overloaded
for such a short trip.
[Arellano] Are you all bringing back any fruits, vegetables,
meats, plants? -[driver] No.
[Arellano] No alcohol, tobacco?
[driver] No, just medicine, candles.
[Arellano] All right, we're gonna do
a quick inspection. Just take a step out.
If you can just pop the hood, please.
Unlock the doors. Thank you so much.
And just take a seat in the waiting area,
and we'll be with you in a minute. -[driver] OK.
[Arellano] I don't know what this is.
The vehicle is packed with a range of unusual items.
[Arellano] Contra Envidia,
to combat jealousy.
San Martin Caballero, just spray.
It's supposed to bring some kind of good luck.
The sprays are associated with Santeria, a spiritual religion
that cleanses and blesses everyday items
to protect their owners.
That's for, I guess, spiritual cleanse bath.
Yeah, supposed to wash away the bad vibes.
Developed in Cuba, its practice in Mexico
has exploded in the past two decades.
I don't really want to call it witchcraft, but how true this
stuff is, I have no idea.
But cartels have been known to hide contraband
in the ritualistic items of Santeria.
[Arellano] We have a lot of candles, actually.
This is pretty thick.
Usually you should see some light.
This one's even darker.
We'll probe it just to make sure it's uniform.
Smuggling narcotics such as methamphetamine in shipments
of candles is a known tactic.
Checking to see if there's anything that's gonna come out.
It's all wax.
So if there's like crystal meth or something
mixed into the wax, you're gonna feel...
like you're scratching concrete with the probe.
That's the best way to...
describe it.
It's not gonna feel smooth.
Kind of like this one.
Kilo two to secondary, we're gonna want to check
these candles. It feels a little gravelly.
[Vargas] Anything that's in our airspace that is not
a friendly, that's unknown, basically, can't be here.
At the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge, Officer Vargas has spotted
a suspected cartel drone flying in restricted airspace.
[Vargas] Surveillance is the biggest thing, and then of course,
there's always a possibility of them carrying
some type of narcotic,
you know, currency, firearms, or even,
you know, IEDs, which we hope is never a case,
but that's why we're here.
Hundreds of cartel drone detections are reported
each day at the southern border.
Now I got to do my stuff, man.
To counter this threat, CBP has recently installed
a custom-built counter drone system
at each southern crossing.
Officer Vargas will be the first to put
this new system to the test as he attempts to bring
this drone down.
[Vargas] It's a little nerve-wracking.
Police officers, we'll be mitigating a drone,
be mitigating a drone.
2 [Vargas] We don't know what payload he has or if he has a payload.
We have to take him down as soon as possible.
Officer Vargas is at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge,
attempting to bring down a suspected cartel drone
using a brand new state-of-the-art system.
[Vargas] It's a little nerve-wracking.
Police officers we'll be mitigating a drone,
be mitigating a drone.
The new system uses proprietary technology
to identify a drone.
If considered a threat, it sends a signal to the drone,
forcing it to land in a safe spot.
[Vargas] We actually took down the drone.
So, right now we're gonna go retrieve it.
Since we don't know what the drone actually has,
we have to approach it with even more safety than normal.
It's ours now.
Equipped with a high-resolution camera,
the drone may be used by cartels to watch the border.
Its footage will be forensically analyzed.
[officer] Good job, [indistinct]
[Vargas] He flew it through the middle, and then he kept it up here
for a little bit at 200 feet.
So I missed him when he got over here.
Then when he came down this way, I took him down.
[indistinct radio chatter]
The drone operator, however,
has disappeared without a trace.
He fled the scene, but we were able to actually see him
underneath the bridge.
So we could review some tape
and maybe later get a hold of him.
But right now, our importance is the drone.
This strike marks a significant moment
for Customs and Border Protection.
First one caught by CBP in the United States
at a port of entry. So it's a pretty big deal.
Every law enforcement agency has come to understanding that
this is the next generation of technologies that will be used
by both sides, cartel and law enforcement or, you know,
bad guys and the good guys, whatever you want to say it as.
It's amazing to be one of the first officers that --
be able to accomplish this mission with CBP
is one of the greatest things I've ever done.
We're just ecstatic knowing that the actual systems that
we have in place to safeguard the traveling public
is actually working.
At the World Trade Bridge in Laredo...
[Cantu] Oh.
This is definitely not supposed to be there.
...Officer Cantu has found a suspicious white substance
concealed behind the front wall of a trailer
crossing from Mexico to Laredo, Texas.
Looks like cocaine to me, so we got to test this out.
You have the Gemini? Test it.
A chemical analyzer will determine
if Officer Cantu's suspicion is correct.
We got a positive for cocaine.
Once we get a positive, that's when the fun part starts.
We pretty much have the green light to take
that front wall down, be it with a crowbar,
drills, any way that we can think of to get the job done.
[drill whirring]
To get to the concealed narcotics,
officers first drill out the rivets
holding a thin metal sheet to the trailer's front wall.
Based on my past loads that I've caught in front walls,
I want to say it's gonna be a good amount,
maybe 100 keys of narcotics.
They literally just stack them up
straight from the bottom to the top.
With over 2 million regular users in the US,
smuggling cocaine through the southern border has risen
sharply in recent years.
[Cantu] I think we might need to take this off too.
In 2025, CBP seized over 20 tons of the drug,
moving from Mexico into the US.
Yeah, do that, do that again.
[indistinct]
OK, let's see if I can get a little peek in there.
After almost an hour of work, Officer Cantu and his team
finally gain access behind the false wall.
No, there's a -- behind this, there's another one.
-There's another one. -Yeah.
But all they find is another metal sheet.
There's another piece of sheet metal that we need to remove.
I really don't know why they would...
To make it harder for us, maybe,
but we got to keep going.
We got to keep digging until we get to the bundles.
2 OK, let's see if I can get a little peek in there.
In Laredo...
There's another piece of sheet metal.
...Officer Cantu and his team are battling
against a false wall they suspect
is concealing bundles of cocaine.
We got to remove this one, and then the bundles will
probably be under these sheet metal.
Cartels regularly build
custom compartments in commercial trailers.
Once we remove the screws, we're going to be able to see
the bundles here.
Creating hidden voids capable of concealing
millions of dollars' worth of narcotics.
[Cantu] Give me a hammer.
Ready for the moment of truth?
[suspenseful music plays]
-Whoo! -We can see 'em.
-Yes! -Sweet!
Here we go.
That's how it usually happens when I've seen front walls
like this loaded.
You remove it, they just fall
like a waterfall.
Officers must now ensure they collect all the bundles
from behind the false wall.
This might be something different.
Look at the size.
We're gonna have to verify this.
We've had smaller packages come out to be fentanyl.
Usually the smaller ones will be fentanyl.
Let's just get a count real quick.
-44. -Plus 2.
-46 bundles.
Each bundle must be unwrapped and tested.
They usually wrap them up so many times, one, to keep it
very compressed, and also to sometimes conceal the smell
for the K-9s and things like that.
That's rubber, no?
The 44 larger packages all test positive for cocaine.
[indistinct background chatter]
[officer] Contains rivets to reset the wall.
And the smaller packages contain rivets to put
the false wall back together.
So they just put the wall back, ship it back to Mexico,
and repeat the process if possible.
After two hours of extracting, officers can finally find out
how big a shipment they've caught.
Good stuff.
51 kilos.
51.92 keys.
Cocaine.
The cocaine has a street value of over $10 million,
making this a significant seizure.
[Cantu] To seize all this and get it off the streets, it brings
a good feeling and just to know that this is not gonna hurt
any kid or anybody in the United States.
The case will now be handed over to Homeland Security Investigations,
who will look into where the narcotics came from
and where they were heading.
[Cantu] I've been here working for CBP for 17 years,
and this is the main reason I come to work every day.
I look forward to doing this
because it gives me great satisfaction.
-Great job, AJ! -Good job.
[Arellano] It's for, like, a spiritual cleanse bath.
Supposed to wash away the bad vibes.
At the Camino Real International Bridge...
Officer Arellano has stopped two sisters transporting items
associated with the spiritual practices of Santeria.
So if there's like crystal meth or something
mixed into the wax,
it's not gonna feel smooth. It should be smooth.
But he suspects that a box of candles may be doing more
than warding off evil spirits.
[Arellano] We're gonna want to check these candles.
It feels a little gravelly.
They could be concealing narcotics.
If we hit something that's hard, hard, before we get to
the bottom of the glass, then there's something
in there that shouldn't be.
You can feel it's smooth, and then when you get to
a certain spot...
[Perales speaking]
[Arellano] Yeah.
[officer speaking]
[Arellano] Yeah, he's gonna run it.
The team runs a K-9 search on the contents of the vehicle.
[intriguing music plays]
♪♪
[officers speaking]
The K-9 doesn't hit on the boxes of candles.
They should be at a test kit just in case.
Yeah, go for it.
But Officer Arellano wants to conduct a field test
to be certain they're not hiding narcotics.
[Arellano] Oh, look it's different on the bottom.
Cartels have been known to mix meth with candle wax.
When the wax is heated,
it liquefies at a relatively low temperature,
while the meth will remain solid
up to around 338 degrees Fahrenheit...
[Arellano] I got a piece from in there.
...making it easy to separate.
Right now we're looking through it and there's not
really any discrepancy from the top to the bottom.
No? All right.
So it was negative.
So K-9 was negative.
Physical inspection was negative.
So it could be just maybe it's bad wax.
They're gonna be good to go.
With officers satisfied that there are no narcotics
on board, the sisters are free to continue their journey.
No, I'm gonna help you put them back, but yeah.
Just to get you guys on your way.
So what are y'all bringing all this stuff for?
We get bad juju from clients, evil eyes, so...
Oh.
The candles are gonna be used to ward off evil spirits,
jealousy, things like that, like "ojo,"
which is the evil eye.
I'll definitely be saying a prayer tonight just to make
sure no bad juju is left here with me.
2 [indistinct radio chatter]
Hello. Where y'all going?
It's pretty normal to see people going to Mexico just to
go eat or just to have a day with their family or friends.
[Martinez] Did you? You have your cowboy hat with you?
-[Martinez] Nah, nah, nah. You're good, you're good. -Thank you.
[Martinez] Y'all be careful.
Passport, driver's license.
Thank you.
At the Progreso International bridge...
Your purpose to Mexico?
[traveler] We just did some shopping
and had lunch and margaritas.
...hundreds of weekend shoppers
are filing through primary inspection.
[officer] Bring anything in from Mexico today?
Purpose of your trip today?
[Regalado] OK.
But among the mascara and cheese puffs,
officers are on the lookout for travelers
who don't fit the profile of typical weekend shoppers.
There's people who come and they'll show nervousness,
they're traveling on their own, and they'll avoid
some questions, keep it short, won't really share
what they did in Mexico,
and we look out for things like that as well.
[indistinct chatter]
[officer and traveler speaking]
Day trips for shopping typically last several hours,
so this man's quick trip into Mexico raises a red flag.
[officer and traveler speaking]
With several recent short trips across the border,
the man doesn't match the pattern
of typical weekend traffic.
He is referred to Officer Garza for a secondary inspection.
He crossed over.
He was there for a very short amount of time.
He has just a few basic chips
that you can get anywhere in the US.
He hasn't crossed through here in a long time.
Why are you here today of all days?
Maybe he went southbound with something, whether it be
ammunition, bulk cash, or firearms.
We'll take it from there and shake the tree,
see what falls down.
How's your day?
So why are you crossing today, Bubba?
[Garza] Who are you traveling with?
What do you do for work?
Where?
OK.
[Garza] All right, sir.
Have you ever gone through a cavity search?
Have you ever had a pat down?
-OK, if you have something on you right now -- -[indistinct reply]
[Garza] Listen, listen, listen to what I'm telling you.
If you have something on you, tell me now.
We can work with you. We can work with you, OK?
If they find something during the pat down,
you're gonna go to county.
Do you have something on you?
OK, all right. Remove your shoes.
Supervisor, approve for pat down.
[officer over radio] 10-4.
[speaking in Spanish]
With a Mexican American population of 9.5 million,
trips to visit family across the border are a regular part
of life for many Texans.
Many travelers return with snacks and specialty foods
they can't find at home in the States.
A lot of people do bring in a large quantity,
and, you know, of prohibited items.
But some of these items can carry pests, turning local
delicacies into potential agricultural risks.
A lot of these pests coming from Mexico can do harm
to farmers' and ranchers' crops in the United States.
I grew up on a family ranch.
My dad's a rancher, my grandfather was a rancher,
my great grandfather was a rancher.
I feel like if I'm stopping it here, not for everyone else,
I'm doing it for my family as well.
It's up to CBP agriculture specialists to make sure
that pests and diseases don't come along for the ride.
-He said there were lemons. -Oh, lemons?
Yes.
Today, Officer Aguilar has pulled over two men who have
driven 13 hours from southern Mexico.
The subject is coming from Veracruz
and they're headed to Alabama.
They say they've been at a family gathering and have
been sent home with a truck full of treats.
[speaking in Spanish]
Including several packets of various leaves.
He declared some fresh herbs, so we're gonna check that.
Fresh herbs are not allowed.
If it's fresh, the pest risk is usually high.
Herbs from Mexico can harbor flies,
aphids, and caterpillars, all of which have the potential
to cause serious damage to US agriculture.
[Aguilar] So herbs are fine as long as they're dried.
But here you can see signs that there was a pest.
So to prevent any pest risk from coming in, well,
we're gonna pick it up.
Oh.
You can see pest trails on that one.
So that pest trail is a leaf miner.
They leave those beautiful trails.
So we'll pick that one up too.
Caterpillar leaf miners are the larvae of various species
of moths and butterflies.
[Aguilar] Oh. Ooh, there we go.
They burrow inside plants to feed, spreading quickly
and decimating crops.
Pest.
[Aguilar] Ooh, feisty. I'll submit that.
The leaf miner will be sent to the USDA to be
identified and documented.
[Aguilar] All right, so let's see what we got here.
And as the inspection continues,
the caterpillars keep on coming.
And now they're supersized.
2 [Aguilar] He declared some fresh herbs. So we're gonna check that.
At the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge, agriculture specialist Aguilar
has discovered tiny leaf miner caterpillars in the luggage of
two travelers heading for Alabama.
[Aguilar] Ooh, feisty. I'll submit that.
And now he's come across their much larger cousins.
[Aguilar and traveler speaking in Spanish]
These larvae, known as maguey worms,
are a high-protein delicacy,
often fried and served on tacos.
It's a delicacy in their state in Mexico, so as long as
they're cooked, they're not alive, then it's OK.
I would not try that.
I would not.
The giant caterpillars may be OK,
but the men's truck is packed with food,
and not all of it has been declared.
[Aguilar] So they didn't declare these plants.
They also didn't declare the manzano peppers over there.
So here it looks like they are gonna plant it,
so it's not allowed at all.
So what they did declare, we're just gonna pick up.
What they did not declare,
we're gonna penalize for that.
All food items must be declared when entering the US.
Failure to do so can result in heavy fines.
[Aguilar] OK.
[speaking Spanish]
These things are prohibited. They're not, you know, what...
people might think is bad or dangerous,
like drugs or ammunition, but what some people do not
understand is that damaging our agriculture can have
a bigger effect to the United States, right?
Our slogan is, do not pack a pest, you know?
And so, unfortunately,
these buddies here, they'll stay with us today.
They ain't making it to Alabama.
Supervisor, approve for pat down.
[officer over radio] 10-4.
In Progreso, a man who claims he went to Mexico to buy
everyday snacks is being searched in secondary.
[Garza] He crossed over.
He was there for a very short amount of time, and we'll take
it from there and shake the tree, see what falls down.
Officers need to be sure the man isn't concealing
contraband on his body, so they carry out a pat down.
How much cash you got on you, more or less?
[traveler speaking]
[Garza] Where'd you get this money?
[Garza] But you said you haven't worked since April.
So where'd you get the money?
The man has told Officer Garza
that he hasn't worked in months.
But the cash on him tells a different story.
[Garza] Did you take something south?
Did they pay you that money right there?
[Garza] Yeah?
Gun runners frequently smuggle weapons and ammunition
into Mexico, delivering them to cartel members for cash,
then heading straight back.
With his age being roughly around the age of the type of
people that export prohibited items, you know, I'm thinking
maybe he's somehow involved in something like that.
-[traveler] I knew -- -[Garza] So where'd you get the money?
[Garza] That you pulled out $1,000?
[Garza] When -- when did you pull 'em out?
[Garza] So you've been carrying 'em since November, October?
[Garza] OK, let me get the phone.
Stay there.
The man claims he can prove that he withdrew the $1,000
from his bank account months ago
and that it wasn't given to him today.
[Garza] I hope you're not stupid enough
to be taking stuff southbound.
I don't take too kindly to that.
[suspenseful music plays]
[Garza] It's $625.
[Garza] Yeah, you said $1,000.
Stand up.
Here's your stuff. Put it in your pocket.
You're good to go, man.
Although the traveler can only justify $625 of the $1,000 in
his wallet, Officer Garza has no firm evidence of wrongdoing.
So he lets him continue on his way.
[officer and Garza speaking]
So now, even though we don't have him with anything
physically to tie him to a crime, we know that this is
maybe a person that we can keep our eye on,
Just like we have a problem of
people trying to bring stuff in.
We have a problem with people trying to take stuff out.
Firearms that are stolen in the US, sometimes bought
legally, taken over there and they're used over there
for their war.
Uh, ammunition.
All this stuff is sold in Mexico with proceeds
going to organized crime.