Borderforce USA: The Bridges

This 10-part documentary series follows the works of Customs and Border Protection Officers on the 28 international bridges that connect the United States and Mexico.

Genre: Documentary

Cast:Robert Glenister , Steve French

1Season 1

S1.E1 ∙ Deadly Secret

Tue, Jan 1, 2019

At Laredo Port of Entry an Officer checks a bag that seems to be too heavy for its size. On Laredo Rail Bridge entry Officers find a suspected infestation of invasive insects and at the Immigration Centre they find a stolen passport.

2Season 1

S1.E2 ∙ Cartel Ambush

Tue, Jan 1, 2019

A pickup truck with a suspect spare tyre is checked. A van sent back from Mexico for a jammed door, rouses suspicions, a pedestrian falls foul of the controlled substances laws, and the Agricultural team pulls up a moonshine transport.

3Season 1

S1.E3 ∙ Suspicious Travelers

Tue, Jan 1, 2019

Eight new recruits join the border force at Laredo. An officer checks a vehicle with fresh sealer in it, while others attend to asylum seekers and immigration hopefuls on the Gateway to the Americas Bridge. The truck entry point has a very busy day.

4Season 1

S1.E4 ∙ Cocaine Crackdown

Tue, Jan 1, 2019

The rookies try to balance how little or how much to check in each case, all while being watched by cartel spotters, trying to gain information to defeat the law. A truck driver raises suspicions, and drunk pedestrians cause concern.

5Season 1

S1.E5 ∙ The Decoy

Tue, Jan 1, 2019

A canine unit alerts to a vehicle, and then it is all hands on deck for a full check, and later, a vehicle at remote Laredo Colombia Solidarity Bridge shows up suspicious items in the fuel tank, and the hunt is on for hidden trap doors.

6Season 1

S1.E6 ∙ Five Million Dollar Meth Bust

Tue, Jan 1, 2019

A vehicle fuel tank that seems to have been recently worked on attracts attention. At Brownsville Matamoros Bridge, pedestrian foot traffic checks turn up a suspicious person, who is detained for investigation.

7Season 1

S1.E7 ∙ 2,000 Miles from Home

Tue, Jan 1, 2019

Cocaine was once the most smuggled drug, but in recent years, it has been replaced by the cartels most profitable product Meth Amphetamine. It comes in all forms but officers are stunned when they discover over 2 million dollars worth of the drug mixed in with household paint and bottles of beer, and a young person far from home seeks asylum.

8Season 1

S1.E8 ∙ 5,000 Rounds of Ammunition

Tue, Jan 1, 2019

Customs and Border Protection officers uncover 5,000 rounds of ammunition being smuggled across Hidalgo Bridge into Mexico, while in Laredo, an elite team prepares for the extradition of a high value target across the bridge.

9Season 1

S1.E9 ∙ Escaping the Cartel

Tue, Jan 1, 2019

Officers note a trend of drugs hidden behind the dashboards of cars. An ominous symbol suggests it is the deadly new drug, Fentanyl. In Laredo a family seek asylum when her eldest son is recruited into the notorious Los Zetas cartel.

10Season 1

S1.E10 ∙ Hidden Cocaine

Tue, Jan 1, 2019

A new recruit, just out of training, makes her mark when she finds cocaine hidden in a car. The Customs and Border Protection officers are on the lookout for a kidnapped child, who police fear has been smuggled over the border into Mexico.

1Season 2

S2.E1 ∙ Episode #2.1

Officers put their lives on the line when they transfer cartel members to the Mexican military authorities. A Police officer from Caracas, Venezuela, pleads for asylum in the United States, and a man who has been bar hopping on the other side of the river returns to the United States and finds his angry wife waiting for him.

2Season 2

S2.E2 ∙ Episode #2.2

A routine X ray reveals suspicious packages hidden inside the tyres of a pick up truck, and a specialized team is tasked with extracting the packages. Officers seize a shipment of marijuana worth about 50 million dollars. Barricades are erected on the Juarez Lincoln Bridge in an attempt to prevent illegal immigrants from forcing their way on to American soil.

3Season 2

S2.E3 ∙ Episode #2.3

A family forced out of Honduras by the gangs, seek asylum in America. At the World Trade Bridge officials search a cargo truck and find a large shipment of marijuana hidden in it, and in a surprise turn of events, on the Brownsville Gateway Bridge, an inspection of an SUV driven by a pregnant mother of two, appears to be a human smuggling operation.

4Season 2

S2.E4 ∙ Episode #2.4

A young boy arrives at one of the bridges, and his sorry hard luck story seems out of keeping with his new clothes and clean appearance, so Officers must investigate further. After way too much alcohol on an all day bar hop over the border, two sisters are detained after one of them makes the mistake of getting physical with a customs officer.

5Season 2

S2.E5 ∙ Episode #2.5

Hidalgo bridge is over run by asylum seekers trying to jump the queue, which forces officials to close the bridge. When two bags of sweets are found wrapped in a tarpaulin, Officers suspect something is amiss, and man from Cuba with mother in law problems, is politely informed that he has no grounds seeking asylum because of her.

6Season 2

S2.E6 ∙ Episode #2.6

Day trippers can buy prescription pills on the cheap in Mexico, resulting in a continual challenge for border officers. A new recruit looking for her first drugs seizure is rewarded with success when she stops an SUV heading for Atlanta, and elsewhere a suspected courier for one of the Mexican cartels, appears to be trying to smuggle 50,000 in cash out of the country.

7Season 2

S2.E7 ∙ Episode #2.7

A man kidnapped and beaten up by the Cartel flees across the bridge into America. A woman is caught hiding anti anxiety pills in her bra while in Hidalgo a band s tour bus is found to be a drug smuggling operation.

8Season 2

S2.E8 ∙ Episode #2.8

A Venezuelan refugee tells officers how she was smuggled through Central America to the border. An American couple caught smuggling Methamphetamine offer information about so called stash houses where drugs and illegal immigrants are being kept. Meanwhile, embarrassed smiles all round with officers in Hidalgo when their latest drugs bust is 0.3 grams of marijuana.

9Season 2

S2.E9 ∙ Episode #2.9

A suspected drug dealer is caught with pills in his underwear. A big shipment of Crystal Meth is found inside a pick up truck, desperate illegal immigrants attempt to swim across the Rio Grande, and a family from Venezuela plead to enter America.

10Season 2

S2.E10 ∙ Episode #2.10

Two teenage girls are caught smuggling anti anxiety pills, an strange vehicle is found to contain many boxes of drugs and a suspected gang member tries to cross over. In a pickup truck, a high tech coding system, suspected of hiding a drug concealment, poses a challenge for officers.

1Season 3

S3.E1 ∙ Episode #3.1

Officers intercept an arsenal of weapons being smuggled into Mexico to be used the the cartels and they wage their vicious war. A consignment of Fentanyl is discovered in a freezer.

2Season 3

S3.E2 ∙ Episode #3.2

Officers discover that the fuel tanks on a truck are full of liquid meth amphetamines. Three men wearing identical clothing cause suspicion and a man is caught smuggling rare reptiles.

3Season 3

S3.E3 ∙ Episode #3.3

A woman is suspected of smuggling someone else's baby over the border. Drugs are found hidden in a consignment of carrots, and a pill smuggler is caught following an earlier tip-off.

4Season 3

S3.E4 ∙ Episode #3.4

A man traveling with two children that aren't his is questioned. A traveler is caught smuggling cash. Officers find drugs in a flat-bed truck.

5Season 3

S3.E5 ∙ Episode #3.5

Officers discover UPS packages which have been lined with drugs. A 14-year-old runaway is picked up at the Gateway to the Americas Bridge. A mother is caught trying to smuggle marijuana.

6Season 3

S3.E6 ∙ Episode #3.6

In Pharr, 840kg of meth is discovered in the floor of a truck. Aromatic candles filled with Fentanyl are intercepted at the World Trade Bridge.

7Season 3

S3.E7 ∙ Episode #3.7

Two 16-year-olds are suspected of smuggling drugs for a cartel, a man tries to enter the US with false documents, and marijuana worth seven million dollars is found inside rolls of carpet.

8Season 3

S3.E8 ∙ Episode #3.8

Packages of meth are found in the wall of a trailer; two brothers are caught smuggling pills; prohibited Mexican delicacies are intercepted.

9Season 3

S3.E9 ∙ Episode #3.9

A 20-year-old woman is caught trafficking pills in Progreso; 500 kilos of marijuana are found hidden inside a shipment of household utensils in Laredo.

10Season 3

S3.E10 ∙ Episode #3.10

Meth is found in the stereo speaker of a truck, a Mexican boy is interrogated after claiming American citizenship and a girl is caught trafficking Tramadol.