[train crossing bell dings]
[train whistle bellows]
How's it going, mister? Your documents?
[man speaks]
[narrator] Up to 24% of the Texan workforce comes from Mexico.
[agent] Anything to declare today?
Many of them are commuters
that cross the border on a daily basis.
But this influx of workers is vulnerable to exploitation
by cartels looking to smuggle drugs north of the border.
[speaking Spanish]
[in English] OK, you a citizen?
Where are you coming from today?
OK, and where are you headed to this morning?
Where do you work at?
Mechanic?
Today, Officer Rodriguez is questioning a mechanic crossing
into the U.S. from Mexico in his work truck.
[Ofc. Rodriguez] You know, that tank in the back,
what do you use it for?
[speaking Spanish]
Cartels are known to use auxiliary fuel tanks
to conceal narcotics.
Usually, if you look at these homemade or these welded
gas tanks that are here in the back, that isn't common.
You know, you'd be surprised how they can package drugs,
narcotics into these.
So for that, it will be going to secondary.
[suspenseful music plays]
[Ofc. Gonzalez] It's a pretty large auxiliary diesel, so they could make
compartments on the inside, which we had before
in the past.
So that's what we check them out for.
And it looks like a pretty new compartment,
so a pretty [indistinct].
But it's full of diesel.
The fuel tank is clear,
but officers decide to run the vehicle through
the Z Portal X-ray
to ensure there are no hidden compartments.
[Ofc. Gonzalez] We're looking.
There's definitely some anomalies inside
the spare tire.
It's not even like, assigned to the vehicle, it doesn't have
the same amount of holes.
There's definitely something inside the spare tire.
That's something that we're gonna be checking right now.
[siren wails]
[man #1] K-9 alert.
We found something. Mike, Mike.
-[man over radio] Go ahead. -[man #2] We found it.
Are we gonna be sent to jail?
[agent] We have to do what we have to do.
♪♪
Everybody's gonna make their way over here by like 7:30.
Were you there when I was talking to the fire department?
[agent] Yeah, it's just a reason for like as they walk in.
The Juarez-Lincoln Bridge
handles over 12,000 vehicles a day,
but this morning all lanes are closed.
So, there's no cars on the bridge right now
because we're gonna host the International Bridge Ceremony,
which happens every year, and we hold traffic on
the Mexican side and on the U.S. side.
It's thousands and thousands of vehicles that we process,
and these vehicles are not able to access the bridge,
so this is kind of a -- a big deal.
The Abrazo International Bridge Ceremony began in 1898
as a symbol of unity.
Today, representatives from both sides of the border meet
in the center to celebrate ties between the two countries.
Center! Face!
[marching drums play]
[man] Thank you.
[marching band plays jovial tune]
[applause]
Good morning, my friends, amigos y amigas.
For more than a century, people have gathered
at this very spot to exchange un abrazo -- a simple embrace.
Thank you, muchas gracias.
May God bless the United States of America,
y que Dios bendiga a Mexico.
The ceremony comes to a close, but Officer Gutierrez's day
is far from over.
We're already done putting up the barricades, so I'm gonna
call Mexican Customs to release the traffic.
The line has probably been halted for about four hours,
so we should be expecting a lot of traffic coming in today.
It's gonna be a pretty long day.
[car horns honking]
[speaking Spanish]
With traffic having built up on both sides,
the challenge for officers isn't just volume.
We have incompetent people, they do not want to stop what they're
doing wrong. -Have a good afternoon, sir.
Some travelers have been waiting over two hours in
extreme heat, and the tension is rising.
[officer over radio] Attention, I need primary officers.
Hold traffic, primary, primary, hold traffic.
-[agent #1] Pérate. -[agent #2] Ey, ey!
At Gate One, a man is refusing to hand over his ID.
[Ofc. Melendez] What are you doing?
Come on, please, comply.
Please don't make any sudden movements, bro.
And has stepped out of his car to confront an officer.
[speaking Spanish]
All travelers crossing the U.S. border must present
a government-issued ID
to Customs and Border Protection.
[Ofc. Melendez] We were having a good conversation, and then out of
nowhere he just started getting aggressive.
[speaking Spanish]
[Ofc. Melendez] Ah, OK.
Any refusal or aggression can quickly escalate from a routine
stop into detention, fines, or criminal charges.
[suspect speaking]
♪♪
[indistinct chatter]
-Who are you traveling with? -My husband.
-The little man over there. -The little man?
-I'm gonna tell him you said that. -Yeah, he's used to it.
Since the 1980s, the Mexican border town of
Nuevo Progreso has been attracting American tourists
seeking out cheap food, alcohol, and medication.
What are you bringing back, sir?
Many of these visitors head for one of the 200 pharmacies
in town to get cheap prescription pills
with no questions asked.
-Any Xanax, tramadol, diet pills, injections, steroids... -[man] No.
-...none of that? -[man] No.
But just because it's legal south of the border,
doesn't mean it's permitted in the U.S.
-[agent] Have a good day, sir. -Have a good one.
Thank you.
[Ofc. Romo speaking]
[woman] Uh...
Today in primary, a woman claims to be returning
home from a shopping trip with her niece.
But her pills catch Officer Romo's eye.
The woman's diet pills are phentermine,
an addictive schedule IV drug requiring a prescription
in the U.S.
Travelers without a doctor's note can bring in a maximum of
50 pills per month,
and they must declare them on entry.
The woman is within her 50 pill limit, and she declared
the meds were in her bag.
So on this occasion, she is free to go.
But she suggests her niece may be carrying more.
[Ofc. Romo and woman speaking]
The woman claims she only has antibiotics known as Z-Paks,
but family members will often split bulk loads of controlled
medication to smuggle them across the border.
Concealed at the bottom of the traveler's backpack,
Officer Romo finds two more packets of phentermine.
But unlike her aunt, this woman hasn't
declared them.
[Ofc. Romo] ENF, headed to secondary.
Meaning she could be facing drug smuggling charges and up
to five years in prison.
Come over here, ma'am. Follow me outside.
[officer over radio] Attention, I need primary officers.
In Laredo...
[officer over radio] Hold traffic, primary,
primary, hold traffic.
[Ofc. Melendez] What are you doing?
Come on, please, comply.
Officer Melendez has detained a man who confronted officers
after refusing to hand over ID at primary inspection.
[suspect speaking]
Failure to produce an ID would usually mean returning
the traveler to Mexico, but the man's behavior
has triggered further investigation.
He started getting aggressive with us, so that's when we made
the judgment to put him in a cell.
That way they don't just lash out on us or they do something
crazy to one of the officers here.
We've gotta make sure we do it safe just for them and us.
We've just gotta follow our procedures.
The suspect is patted down
before officers read him his rights.
[speaking Spanish]
Still uncooperative, Officer Melendez searches
the man's belongings for any identification.
-[Ofc. Melendez]¿Nada? -[agent] Nope.
Negative.
But finds nothing.
[Ofc. Melendez] My guess is he's doing something wrong,
but fingerprints will tell us everything we need to know.
Let me see your hand real quick. Put your hand down like this.
[faint chatter]
[agent] Dry your hand real quick.
[scan beeps]
You gotta go slower.
[scan beeps]
A check of the man's fingerprints alerts
the officers to a bigger problem.
He has an active warrant for his arrest.
Every day, CBP officers detain an average of 44 fugitives
at U.S. ports of entry.
So right now, we'll just have to call our sector,
verify the warrant, and then from there,
they tell us whether...
they wanna pick it up.
The man is wanted in Iowa over allegations of theft.
Yes, this is Bridge 2, Lincoln Juarez Bridge.
And it's up to local authorities there to determine
whether to extradite the suspect.
Thank you so much. Have a good day.
Right now, basically what they told us is that it is
an in-state pick-up only from Iowa.
In-state pick-up only means that basically if he is caught
within that state, they can pick him up.
Anywhere out in the United States,
they can't pick him up at all.
Despite the traveler's aggression towards officers,
the lack of an executable warrant means Officer Melendez
has no grounds to hold him.
[officer] You ready to take him and his belongings?
-[Ofc. Melendez] Yeah. -[officer] OK.
I'm ready to give him up.
And he has no choice but to return the man to Mexico.
[Ofc. Melendez] Thank you, boss.
[officer] All right, bud.
[Ofc. Melendez] It is his lucky day today.
[speaking Spanish]
Unfortunately for us,
we can't pick him up at the moment.
[speaking Spanish]
But as of now, he should be on his way home,
and hopefully the next time we catch him.
[train whistle bellows]
There's definitely some anomalies
inside the spare tire.
At the Camino Real International Bridge,
an X-ray of a mechanic's pickup traveling from Mexico has
flagged anomalies in the spare tire.
There's definitely something inside the spare tire.
That's something that we're gonna be checking right now.
Suspecting the driver may be part of a larger
smuggling organization,
Officer Gonzalez drives the truck to a secure location
out of sight of anyone who may be watching.
[Ofc. Gonzalez] For the way it sees over there on the image, I'm guessing it
will be bringing in possible narcotics inside.
Before breaking open the tire,
officers need secondary confirmation.
They use a density meter to determine
if there's anything stashed inside.
The meter fires low-level radiation into the tire
and measures how much bounces back.
Densely packed narcotics reflect more radiation than
a hollow tire, so will give a higher reading.
[officer speaking]
-[Ofc. Gonzalez] Which is normal so far, right? -[officer] Yeah.
OK.
The meter draws a blank, but Officer Gonzalez isn't
ready to clear the tire yet.
It feels way more heavier than normal, and when I was rolling
it to the area over here, you just can feel, like,
all the packages moving it and just, like, moving inside.
[officer] K-9 to secondary.
A canine's sense of smell is up to 100,000 times more
sensitive than a human's...
-[dog yelps] -[officer] Come on.
...meaning a trained dog
can pick up the scent of narcotics even
through a thick rubber tire.
[officer] Hey.
[Ofc. Gonzalez] Oh, there we go.
[coos at dog]
[Ofc. Gonzalez] Thank you, Señor.
[faint chatter]
[officer] Boom-chaka-laka.
♪♪
[officer speaking]
In Eagle Pass...
[officer] Boom-chaka-laka.
...officers have discovered suspected narcotics concealed
in the spare tire of a mechanic's truck.
Now they have to ensure they collect every last bundle.
[speaking Spanish]
Twenty-four packages.
[Ofc. Gonzalez] Ahí va.
In all, the team has recovered two dozen packages,
and the mechanic is immediately detained.
We'll take it into the seizure room, take off the wrappings
and test it, and then from there, see what it is.
♪♪
Like all these layers,
they serve an extra purpose, right?
Like the carbon paper,
like, to try to throw off the X-ray,
and all the other smells is just to throw off the canines.
But today, they didn't do a really good job
with the bundles.
Officers use a chemical analyzer to identify
what's inside.
[Ofc. Flores.] Meth.
Methamphetamine is one of the deadliest drugs in America.
In the last 25 years, annual deaths rose from
550 to 35,000.
[faint chatter]
This seizure weighs in at 11.52 kilos...
[Ofc. Flores] 11.52.
...giving it a street value of more than $170,000.
Crystal meth is, uh,
a really bad poison that we have over here,
'cause all these young people have
their days and have their life...
anchored to that.
[officer] All right, later guys. Appreciate it again.
We're ready, guys. Later.
Yeah, be careful.
The drugs are handed over to agents from
Homeland Security Investigations,
who will now question the driver to piece together
his wider smuggling network.
It feels exciting to start taking off this poison out of
the streets from -- from the people.
Like, we are -- we are always trying to catch,
uh, anything that tried to cross over here.
So, finally, it pays off
all the efforts that we put every day over here.
[siren wails]
[Ofc. Romo] Bingo.
In Progreso...
...Officer Romo has found two packets of the Schedule IV
weight-loss drug phentermine in a woman's bag.
Come over here, ma'am. Follow me outside.
The woman claims she only bought Z-Pak,
an over-the-counter antibiotic.
Go ahead over there.
Wait on that side of the table, OK?
And that the other drug was put in her bag by her relative.
Here's her bag, bro.
After I checked, it was in the bottom of the bag.
Two undeclared.
She was very jumpy, very jittery, so we're gonna
go ahead and give her a further inspection just to make sure
that she doesn't have any more boxes in there concealed.
Phentermine is a controlled substance that needs
a prescription in the U.S., but not in Mexico.
That difference makes it a target for smugglers looking
to sell them illegally in the U.S.
Shopping, fine.
[officer speaking]
The woman is carrying fewer than the 50 pill limit for
the unprescribed phentermine.
But officers need to ensure that's all she has.
♪♪
[officer] Good to go.
Her bags are clear of any more contraband,
but her failure to declare the diet pills leaves
her facing the seizure of the drug and a fine of
up to $1,000.
[woman speaking]
[woman] OK, I'm gonna get [indistinct]
The woman is let go with a warning.
But her diet pills aren't going with her.
Well, I thought I had only Z-Pak, but it turns out I also
had phentermine, which is not allowed, or "undeclared" is
not allowed. So I really didn't know that.
You obviously know what you have, you obviously know
what you're buying, and you had to ask for it,
so pretty sure she knew what she had.
♪♪
[siren wails]
[indistinct radio chatter]
[officer #1] Go ahead for the cue.
[indistinct radio chatter]
-Hello,¿cómo está? -Bien.
[Ofc. Pena] When it comes to the people crossing the bridge,
90% of the people are good people, you know?
The other 10% are those people that are involved
in criminal activity, unfortunately.
At the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge,
CBP officers don't just monitor what comes into America,
but also what leaves it.
-Never seen that before. -What?
Their target...
[Ofc. Garza] This is about 2,000 -- she declared a hundred.
The unreported currency, weapons, and ammunition heading
south that keeps Mexico's drug cartels in business.
[officer] Carefully.
These people feel empowered because they know that once
they're on the other side in Mexico,
they can do whatever they want, basically.
Today, two men traveling to Northeast Mexico have been
pulled over for a secondary inspection.
I saw the vehicle, Nuevo León plates, an Escalade,
kind of brand newish, decided to stop it just to check.
Despite only the driver and his friend traveling,
the truck is packed with suitcases, as if carrying
an entire family's belongings.
You opened the truck, Carmen?
-[Ofc. Carmen] Ya está. -Oh.
But it turns out this is no family SUV.
Uh, when we're checking over here,
as soon as you open the doors, you can see, it's, uh,
it's bulletproof everywhere. It has the safe area here.
It's a thick wall.
Like the walls, if you take out the...
If you take out over here,
you can see on the inside, it has like a Kevlar lining.
Cartels are known to customize trucks with steel plating
and bullet-resistant glass, leading officers to suspect
that this vehicle may be carrying more than just
family belongings.
Yeah, we're searching. We took out all the suitcases.
They had this entire vehicle full of suitcases.
They had TVs. They have a bunch of stuff.
♪♪
[officer] There we go.
So we found ammo under the seat of the driver.
Taking unlicensed ammunition across the border is a federal
offense, carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
[Ofc. Garza] A.380,.380.
And they have some here, some loose ammunition between,
mixed between the stuff.
So, 9-millimeter.
Uh, looks like --
for looks of it, it looks like most of them are
9-millimeter, but they have enough ammo.
Walk all the way straight.
The two travelers are taken to a holding cell while officers
continue their search.
We have to search everything to make sure there's
nothing else.
I mean, how they say, "where there's ammo,
there's weapons," right?
So, if there is a weapon,
bad for them, good for us. But we shall find out.
[faint chatter]
[train crossing bell dings]
[car horns honk]
[speaking Spanish]
[indistinct]
In Eagle Pass,
job opportunities are on the rise, and record numbers of
workers cross from Mexico each day.
[speaking Spanish]
[in English] Good afternoon.
[continues in Spanish]
Anything to declare today? Any food, medication?
No groceries, no luggage in the back?
[woman] No.
But as the traffic increases,
so too does the number of criminals.
[speaking Spanish]
And it's up to officers like Alexandre to spot them.
Originally, I'm from Queens, New York.
I've lived all my life in
New York City, so this is my first go-round in Texas.
Definitely a culture shock.
Do you have any cash, anything that's on you?
I believe growing up in New York helped me out in my job
aspect, making me very vigilant, making me very aware
my surroundings and being able to read people's body language,
I think is my very strong suit.
You have cash? On you, or is it in the car?
-[indistinct] -[Ofc. Alexandre] It's on you?
-In my pocket. -OK, good.
I don't know, I think it's like having spidey senses.
You get that tingle in your body when you know somebody
just lied to you.
So that just lets me know that I should dig deeper.
[suspenseful music plays]
Today, Officer Alexandre has sent a young couple
for secondary inspection.
[speaking Spanish]
They say they're on their way back to San Antonio after
picking up party supplies across the border.
But their nervousness has made officers believe they may be
carrying more than food and decorations.
You get everything down, and then [indistinct].
The car is packed with boxes
and bags, all of which need to be thoroughly inspected.
Es pollo, or?
Probably. Think so.
OK.
Oh, you already checked this one, didn't you?
-[Ofc. Pereira] Yeah. -My bad.
[officer] Does it look like tampering over there?
No.
The party goods check out.
No tampering.
But contraband is often routinely stashed in the body
of a vehicle.
[Ofc. Villarreal] There's something in here, bro, so.
Oh, yeah.
There we go.
-[officer #1] Whoo! -[Ofc. Villarreal] Great job.
Great job.
And concealed between the tire well and battery
is a pack of cured meat.
[Ofc. Villarreal] Chorizo.
[faint chatter]
[Ofc. Villarreal] It's usually where you store it, right?
Importing chorizo into the U.S.
is forbidden as a potential carrier of the deadly
African swine fever.
Neither curing, drying, or smoking can kill
the virus, and infected scraps ingested by pigs could start
an outbreak devastating the U.S. pork industry.
[Ofc. Villarreal] This was no accident.
It was intentional.
If caught, smugglers can face heavy fines
and even criminal prosecution.
♪♪
[indistinct radio chatter]
[speaking Spanish]
OK, gracias.
In Eagle Pass...
[Ofc. Villarreal] There's something in here, bro, so.
Officer Villarreal has found some chorizo in a vehicle
belonging to a couple returning from a shopping trip in Mexico.
[Ofc. Villarreal] Great job. Great job.
The meat was wrapped in a bag and wedged next to
the battery in the trunk.
[Ofc. Villarreal] He put a good amount of effort into hiding the product.
This was no accident. It was intentional.
Contaminated pork scraps used as pig feed can spread
African swine fever.
All right, we're gonna talk to him.
As the second largest exporter of pork in the world,
any outbreak in the U.S.
could collapse the trade market.
[speaking Spanish]
Anyone importing pork must declare it on entry and show
that it has been thoroughly cooked.
[speaking Spanish]
[continues in English]
Deliberately concealing the meat constitutes smuggling.
The man who owns the vehicle could have it seized and be
fined up to $1,000.
All right.
OK.
The traveler says he has never been stopped at
the border before.
He placed the chorizo right next to the battery in
the trunk, which is at least
three layers of cover right there.
A lot of people will bring just a small amount and they'll
just go sell it off to their family members, friends.
You can get these same products in the United States.
The price is a little, uh,
steeper, but the price of losing your vehicle
because you were smuggling something is much worse.
♪♪
[man speaks]
The man is confirmed as a first-time offender,
so this time he escapes with just a fine.
[indistinct radio chatter]
If it happens again that something's hidden in
your vehicle, they will seize your vehicle, all right?
It's not a threat. They'll take it away from you.
This is how it works.
He and his girlfriend are free to carry on their journey,
but without the chorizo.
They have every opportunity to declare the products.
If they declare the products and they are prohibited,
the worse that's gonna happen is we ask them to return
it to Mexico.
At any point in time, if they attempt to conceal,
that guarantees that we're gonna at least fine them.
♪♪
[over radio] Secondary, [indistinct].
Radio check, over.
[Ofc. Garza] They're.380,.380.
And they have some here.
At the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge...
[Ofc. Garza] Walk all the way straight.
...two men have been detained after officers discovered
concealed ammunition in an armored SUV.
I saw the vehicle, Nuevo León plates, an Escalade,
kind of brand-new-ish, uh,
decided to stop it just to check.
We have to search everything, make sure there's nothing else.
I mean, how they say, "Where there's ammo,
there's weapons," right?
So, if there is a weapon, bad for them, good for us.
But we shall find out.
It's gonna be 100% checked. We're gonna check...
everything, everything. Detail check.
[Ofc. Pena] The second one's a good one.
As cartel conflicts escalate,
demand for weapons increases.
In 2024, CBP seized nearly 400,000 rounds,
magazines, and gun parts headed for Mexico.
[Ofc. Pena] Oh, look at that.
Magazines and more ammunition stuffed in their personal bags.
Around 70% of all weapons seized by law enforcement in
Mexico can be traced back to the U.S.
Oh, we found more ammo right now
in one of the suitcases.
Magazines, they're still in here.
More ammo. There's [indistinct].
With a haul this size, the two men face the prospect
of a decade behind bars
and a ban from entering the United States.
But as the severity of the situation kicks in,
they come clean about their identities.
I started asking more questions just to get to know
the story behind it.
He said that they're a police escort for a mayor in Mexico,
in Nuevo León.
The men present Mexican police IDs and claim they were ordered
to drive the mayor's armored car back to Northeast Mexico
after he flew home.
[officer] So you need to count it.
While investigators verify their story, officers count up
the ammunition concealed in the car.
[officer] Diez. La de cincuenta.
Y cincuenta -- [indistinct].
So, yeah, in total, we found nine magazines,
three boxes of 150 rounds in total of.380 ammo,
and 9mm was a total of 400 rounds.
OK. Uh-huh.
The men's claim of being a police escort checks out,
but the quantity of ammunition found raises concerns that
there could be cartel involvement.
[officer] They're police officers, they know they cannot take
weapons, ammunition like that to Mexico.
You have a visa, that's automatic cancellation.
It doesn't matter, especially if you're hiding it.
It was concealed under the seat, inside a bag,
that's automatic cancellation.
For now, the ammunition and armored car
will be seized, but the case will be turned
over to HSI for further investigation.
We did our job at the end of the day, and we'll just keep
going to see what we can find the rest of the day.
I see we got a pretty good seizure there.