Border Wars

Agents in South Texas work to stop drug dealers, smugglers and undocumented immigrants from infiltrating residential neighborhoods and getting innocent bystanders involved.

Not Available.

Specially trained agents deal with problems specific to the border in South Texas.

South Texas has become a hotspot for smuggling activities on the border.

Tactical cat-and-mouse games used in the war on drugs.

Illegal traffic between the Rio Grande and the Falfurrias Checkpoint in South Texas.

In Puerto Rico, agents keep a high-value drug seizure from South America secure as they transport it back to San Juan. They also use a DASH 8 plane and radar to find and seize a small drug-running boat in the dangerous Mona Passage.

Downtown, Border Patrol and ICE agents discover a major drug-running tunnel and suspected smugglers may still be inside. With cartels watching their every move, they must risk their lives to map and destroy it.

Border Patrol agents cut off a getaway car as it tries to flee the scene of a drug drop in ranchland east of Nogales, Ariz. Agents arrest the driver and seize the drugs, then pursue the smugglers.

A Blackhawk helicopter leads ground agents on an epic chase after an illegal immigrant through treacherous mountains near Douglas, Ariz. A live surveillance camera alerts Border Patrol agents to a known fence coyote who tries to guide illegal immigrants into downtown Nogales.

Along the southern Arizona border at the port of entry, agents detain two families within a 24-hour period, driving similar SUVs and carrying a combined total of nearly $1 million in cash and drugs.

In the southern border towns of Douglas and Nogales, Ariz., agents uncover new and more cunning methods smugglers create to avoid detection, including a drug tunnel under the border.

The Rio Grande River serves as a highway for illegal traffic and dangerous crossings. As the Department of Homeland Security’s surveillance intensifies, powerful drug cartels and human smugglers are trying more desperate tactics.

Law enforcement battles to intercept the massive flow of illicit traffic moving through the Rio Grande Valley. Agents in McAllen, Texas, track a group of illegal immigrants in the dark and find themselves outnumbered in a large field.

Drug smuggling has reached “Texas-sized” proportions in the Rio Grande Valley. A canine unit detects a suspicious vehicle coming in from Mexico, and agents discover a massive quantity of methamphetamine concealed within.

Agents put themselves in harm’s way searching for armed smugglers fleeing a shoot-out with the Mexican military. Once at the riverbanks, they find a suspected smuggler who has been shot five times. Their mission quickly changes as they rush to save the man’s life.

Agents and officers work around the clock to secure the border between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Border agents in El Paso, Texas battle to secure the city from human trafficking and drug smuggling.

Border agents in Arizona defend a national park overrun by smugglers.

Customs and Border Protection patrol the crucial boundary between El Paso, one of the safest cities in the U.S. and Cuidad Juarez, considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

With the help of a Blackhawk helicopter, agents arrest a suspected smuggler who is backpacking drugs into the U.S.

In this episode of Border Wars, agents and officers struggle to stop cartels and illegal immigrants whove found weak spots in spite of increased fortification along the U.S.-Mexico Border. Four feet beneath Nogales, agents crawl through a claustrophobic drug smuggling tunnel, knowing they could come face to face with armed criminals. Near the Port of Entry, Nogales Rail Inspection Team is on high alert as a freight train full of new automobiles rumbles toward them. Trains, with infinite hiding places, are becoming a favorite place for cartels to stash drugs: If the officers arent careful, they could easily miss a load. In the desert, Border Patrols only dirt bike unit races after a group of illegal immigrants. But in this sprawling Indian Reservation, the agents will need skill - and luck - to catch them.

CBP agents dismantle an observation point used by smugglers to monitor agents' movements in the remote desert, and seize a vehicle attempting to carry weapons and nearly $800,000 back to the Mexican cartels.

Along the El Paso-Juarez border, agents and officers of the Department of Homeland Security investigate a young couple who are suspected human smugglers, uncover a floor of marijuana in an SUV, and target a high-level supplier in a drug sting.

Drugs, guns, cars and money are just some of the items confiscated on a typical day by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). But what happens to this contraband after it is seized?

In Laredo, Texas, officers and agents of the Department of Homeland Security target drug smuggling and illegal immigration. In this episode of Border Wars, agents chase down a car filled with illegal immigrants heading north. When the group bails from their vehicle, agents must run through thick brush in search of the immigrants, who face imminent dehydration in the south Texas heat. At the Laredo Port of Entry, a group of officers uncover a spare tire thats loaded with a massive currency seizure - money likely headed into cartel hands south of the border. Meanwhile, the Laredo SWAT team prepares for a bust on a suspected gang members home in search of cocaine and black tar heroin.

In this episode of Border Wars, Miami and Puerto Rico, agents and officers with the Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration intercept a boat with a multi-million dollar drug load, apprehend an alleged member of a transnational gang, and destroy a marijuana grow house. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from a violent gang task force apprehend an alleged member of a dangerous gang to see if he will give them valuable inside information. Hours later, a DEA agent leads a raid on a marijuana grow house operation in West Palm Beach. At the same time, off the coast of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepts a fishing boat carrying what turns out to be more than 500 pounds of cocaine.

Examining the Sept. 30, 2010, death of American tourist David Hartley, who was allegedly shot by Mexican pirates during a sightseeing trip on Falcon Lake near the Texas-Mexico border.

Witness one of the Caribbean's largest drug busts of the year -- over 1.5 tons of cocaine worth more than $40 million found aboard a Panamanian fishing boat heading to the U.S. As the State Department negotiates for possession of the ship, the DEA and Coast Guard stand guard over the cargo. When a suspected smuggler requires medical attention, the situation becomes urgent in a scramble to get medication on board. Next, enter the underworld of North Miami Beach as officers patrol the streets.

Meet the Shadow Wolves, an elite unit of just 12 Native American federal agents who hunt down drug smugglers crossing into the US through a desert the size of Connecticut using ancient techniques.

On the U.S.-Mexico border, officers and agents work to fight the threat of terrorism while remaining vigilant against illegal immigration and contraband smuggling. In this episode of Border Wars, agents launch an uncover sting to stop an illegal human smuggling ring, chase down suspected illegal immigrants through the desert on foot, and discover a woman who hired smugglers to hide her in a car, saying her only goal is to be reunited with her son.

In this episode of Border Wars, officers and agents of U.S. Customs and Border Protection work 24/7 to patrol the border between San Diego, California and the Mexican city of Tijuana. These men and women traverse rugged San Ysidro Mountain in search of illegal border crossers, stage an undercover sting operation to infiltrate a human smuggling organization, and uncover hidden narcotics inside a car passing through the San Ysidro port of entry - the busiest land border crossing in the world.

Working the varied terrain of San Diego, California are officers and agents of the Department of Homeland Security; men and women dedicated to their duty of defending the United States busiest border crossing. Three components of U.S. Customs and Border Protection watch over this 66-mile stretch of the border and beyond from the air, on the ground, and at the ports of entry. Their mission is to secure the border against smuggling of contraband and unlawful entry into the U.S. In this episode of Border Wars, officers and agents in San Diego discover thirty people elaborately concealed in a tractor-trailer, race to prevent people from illegally crossing the border under the cover of a blinding fog, and unearth a payload of hundreds of pounds of marijuana carefully hidden behind the cab of a tractor-trailer.

New agents get their first taste of action; officers seize tens of thousands of dollars in suspected drug cartel money; special agents seek out corruption within their ranks.

A group of suspected drug smugglers is tracked by the all-terrain vehicle (ATV) night unit at Rio Grande City Station. No sooner are they apprehended than the agents must call in reinforcements from the CBP's air unit, Omaha, to track down a group of illegal immigrants hiding in the brush. Another team of agents searches for nine people missing in the Rio Grande, initially finding only one body. The search becomes more urgent when they find two more bodies the next day.

At the border checkpoint in Hidalgo, Texas, a seemingly ordinary car is found to have firearms and ammunition hidden in its console and under its bumpers. Members of BORTAC, the tactical unit that identifies smuggling routes, discover what could be a remote transfer point for illicit goods. Further surveillance supports their theory, and the team hopes to close in on an active operation - if they can avoid detection by cartel scouts.

An 18-wheeler carrying more than 1,000 pounds of concealed marijuana is discovered by a rookie agent and his canine partner. Meanwhile, a group of illegal crossers takes agents on a four-hour chase. An Ecuadorian woman and her young daughter - injured, dehydrated and famished - are rescued from the harsh terrain after being abandoned by smugglers, and face deportation unless the mother can prove they have reason to fear for their lives back home.

A young man drowns trying to cross the Rio Grande, and agents must now identify him and return his body to his family. Next, agents and officers target a human smuggling operation and raid a safe house containing more than 20 illegal immigrants living in cramped, unsuitable conditions. And inspection of a bell pepper shipment finds tiny invasive snails that could destroy thousands of acres of cropland if introduced into the U.S.

Border Patrol Agents William Ortiz and Eduardo Berlanga try to intercept a pickup truck filled with people who have crossed illegally from Mexico. When they reach the vehicle, they realize that two of the passengers are young twin girls. The situation heats up when they learn that the man claiming to be their father apparently is not being truthful.