Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
Arizona’s police and border units combat drug cartels, human smugglers, and identity theft rings along the U.S.-Mexico border. Undercover officers make a surprise arrest after a deal is made. Elsewhere, agents patrolling the border find a hole in the wall. Meanwhile, officers find a large shipment of suspected drug packages.
Border Invasion follows border enforcement agents as they work to take down drug smugglers and other dangerous criminal activity on the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Confronting drug cartels and busting smuggling rings, these officers work hard to protect the borders and tackle the rise of illegal activity in the U.S.
Welcome to the US Mexico border, this is the gateway for billions of dollars worth of narcotics that end up on the street of America each year.
And where millions of Mexican immigrants enter the United states illegally in search of a better life.
We have unique access to Arizona’s police and border Protection.
who have the most dangerous job in the border war against people smugglers and drug gangs.
US air unit stop a huge chipment,The Maricopa county deputies bust an identity theft forgery gang.
and the elit SWAT tactical unit assault a drug dealer’s house in a danger Phoenix neighborhood.
In the state of Arizona over 350 tons of marijuana ,cocaine and heroin were seized in drug posts by the US customs and border protection.
To maintain security in the area their airon Marine unite used black or helicopters to hunt down criminals attempting to break into the US.
Used by the military in Afghanistan and Iraq these $ 4 million helicopters provided a essential backup to the agents on the ground.
The main entry point into Arizona for drug smugglers is 180 miles south of Phoenix near the border town of Nogales.
This frontier with Mexico is made up of rugged mountains and valleys that provided unlimited opportunities for Mexico drug barons seeking to move their illegal cargo North.
Today , 15 miles west from the border town of Nagales a blackhawk has been called in to help track a drug shipment.
A smuggler has been spotted, and the crews have been asked to land to provide much needed backup to the ground units,it’s a higly dangerous situation, 15 suspects have been spotted and it’s not know if they are armed.
The agents on board have to dismount as quickly as possible.
A smaller shopper is brought in to help with the search,most of the smugglers are hiding around the dense undergrowth,one instantly gives up the chase and surrenders with his drug low.
The helicopters stay circling above,constantly passing through information to the ground team.
With a possible 15 suspects still at large agent Jimarez and the team spread out across the Valley.
There’s no sign of the drug smugglers,it appears the suspects have fled back to Mexico, which is only 2 miles away.
It doesn’t take long though for the agents to find parts of the shipment that’s been abandoned.
As tey search the area close to where the suspect was arrested,they found more and more bundles of marijuana, the loads are so heavy they have to be rolled down to the collection point at the bottom of the Valley.
With this evidence it’s clear all the men spotted were drug mules, carrying 50 loads on their backs into the US.
Mexican gangsters use young men from poor backgrounds to smuggle the drugs,they’re willing to break the law and risk their lives for the $3,000 fee.
A small fortune to anyone back in Mexico.
The team has put a lot of effort into today’s bust , some having had to spend a week sleeping rough on the trail of this group.
The suspect is led off and the marijuana is loaded onto the blackhawk.
It’s such a large hall,that there’s no enough room in the blackhawk for the agents, suspect and the drugs, last year the air and Marine Unit assisted in the apprehension of over 1500 narcotics smugglers and 590 tons of marijuana.
Today’s operation has taken up a lot of time and manpower, most of the smugglers managed to escape but the agents are pleased with what they see as a successful conclusion to the day’s events.
15 to 16 bundles at over 500 /600 lb plus
And with street value of about $ 800 US per pound .
One suspect apprehended an plenty of drugs off the street,which is great.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA
Illegal immigration is big business for the Mexican drug gangs who control the trafficking routes into the United States.
Each year an estimated 20,000 immigrants enter the US illegally through the state of Arizona having to pay the gangs up to $9,000 as a number of illegals increases the Maricopa County Sheriff ‘s office has set up the human smuggling unit to fight the crime.
Every day,illegals are shipped North in small groups along the major highways.
Today sergeant Brett palmer is on patrol on inter -state 17,he had a call from deputies nearby that they’ve stopped a suspicious vehicle,on arrival sergeant Palmer finds that the deputies pulled over a suspected load vehicle.
This are people carries that are used by smugglers to transport illegal imigrants across the country.
The arresting deputies have questioned the occupants and are not convinced of their story.
They are all going towards Miami or New York and then they’re all melon pickers from California.
Lieutenant Joe Souza who lead the human smuggling unit is also on the scene, the deputies have told them of further evidence which leads them to believe this is a load vehicle.
The reason why the vehicle caught his attention is because it was riding high it was actually riding high and bouncing around, what they do to that vehicle? they put air shocks in it , so when they overload the vehicle with people, they can put air in the shocks and bring it up , they overcorrected.
They drew the deputy’s attention ,so, based on that overcorrection he got in behind to develop probably cause,which was speeding, and they pull out 9 people out of the vehicle tht was already designed to transport 6.
The suspects are cuffed and lined up a larger vehicle is called in as there are too many suspects to transporting in just in deputies cars alone.
The odd thing about it ,its the second time deputies heard that exact same story tonight ,the same loction ,going to the same thing,coming from the same area so it’s to coincidental for deputies in this line of work.
This is a successful bust , but it’s not unusual,in the last 2 years the unit have stopped over 120 load vehicles.
If the smugglers managed to get their human cargo pass the Maricopa County deputies, they are then taken to temporary adresses known as drop houses before they move to larger cities all over the US.
The next day the smuggling units are acting upon information they have received from illegal immigrants they have apprehended and questioned.
A number of properties have been identified as possible drop houses.
The team plan to visit each property on their list to conduct what they call knock and talks, for lieutenant Souza this is good old fashioned police work.
Without a search warrant the deputies will literally knock on the door of the property and attempt to gain entry without a fight,it’s a risky strategy as they never know what to expect
The team approached the first property and find two two people outside,nothing suspicious is found,so the deputies move on to investigate the other locations,it’s a painstaking game of cat and mouse for lieutenant Souza and his men.most properties are not used for more than 30 days by the Mexican criminal gangs.
This is the last address from list their informants have given them ,on arrival the unit find a man coming out of the suspectecd drop-house.
The hands-off approach works, with no weapons drawn and no search warrant the man gives consent for the police to enter his house, once inside the property the deputies are immediately suspicious,it’s not clear who the owner is or how many people live there.
The dirt marks on the wall and the lack of furniture indicate to joe that this could be a drop house ,so all the other rooms , no funitures except for a bed , dirt marks on the down at the bottom,they’re got obvious signs of a drop house, this is the only toom that’s furnished, all the other rooms nothing except one room with the matress he’s got the dirty signs along.
So there’s ben numerous people here, the deputies have information that the adjoing apartment is also a possible drop house, when questioned the occupants are vague about who lives there.
The deputies are given permission to enter the house, after a short search they found a group of men hiding out the back.
With none of the men able to produce identification the units have enough evidence to arrest the group on suspicion of being in the country illegally.
Outside in the driveway , Joe has found what seems to be a load vehicle..
there’re are four or five in his van right here ,Joe don’t know if they were just being delivered , they got lucky , it’s got Arkansas plates on his vehicle here.
No one in the van has valid identification and they keep changing there answers when questioned about why they are here.
The deputie isn’t convinced they are in the US legally.
In the two apartments they find further evidence, a ledger with names with what looks like the amounts people have paid to be smuggled,after a long shift , Joe calls in the results to the deputy chief.
The knock and talks have proved a success, with one smuggling cell having been discovered and one smuggler or coyote as they are called are arrested.
In the last year the human smuggling unit have arrested 28 coyotes for kidnpping,extorion,murder and aggravated assault,today out of the nine suspects arrested thre face state charges of human smuggling,the rest were booked as co- conspirators.
More than a million Mexicans attempt to illegally enter the US each year,many are smuggled by criminal networks into Arizona where they are provided with fake papers before their ship North.
As a result for the past five years,the state has been the identity theft capital of the US,today the Maricopa County sheriff’s office is conducting a special operation to smash a human smuggling an ID forgery Ring.
A six months surveillance operation will culminate in two SWAT missions today a vehicle assault to apprehend the gangsters in public car park along with a raid on a home adress.
The vehicle assault will take place first,first.
Lieutenant Joe Souza from the specialized human smuggling unit is working together with SWAT on this mission.
Yesterday they made a buy from this bad guy who made a legal permant resident card which is basically like a green card and social security number social security card for undercover .
Today what Joe,his team and SWAT they going to do is they going to purchase an Arizona driver’s license from the same suspect and if that happens then they going to take them down in the parking lot and serve two warrant at two different houses they know this guy frequents and goes to.
Joe knows this is potentially very dangerous operation.
Just based on doing the first buy under covers they noticed kind of surveillance the bad guys were actually driving into the parking lots ahead of time looking for them, so it was something they had to really pay attention .
It’s the same thing that drug dealers do, human smugglers ,drug dealers, they all carry guns and that’ why Joe have a Tactical team here.
As the arrest will be made in a public area SWAT rehears their vehicle assault several times before they leave.
The main things about a vehicle assault is ,you want a suprise,SWAT throw a distraction device that turn their attention in the opposite direction that SWAT coming from and also you want you want to breach those windows quick.
To minimize danger to the public and to themselves each SWAT deputy meticulously runs through their role in the operation,the team have to make sure they apprehend the suspects as quickly as possible.
The unit moved towards ther rendez-vous point where the undercover officers have arranged to meet and purchase fake papers from the dealers .
An unmarked police car is alsor trucking the suspects every move as they too approach the meeting point.
The three SWAT 4×4 is moving quickly converging in the car park and surrounding the suspect’s vehicle.
As they draw up the undercover cops back away from the scene allowing the armed deputies to launch their assault.
distraction devices are thrown and the window are breached.
The aggresive tactics have worked perfectly completely overwhelmed the suspects are so stunned they do not attempt to retaliate or escape.
The men are arrested and booked on charges of running a criminal forgery and identity theft operation.
With the first part of the operation completed, they get ready for the raid on the home adress,from their intelligence,they know this is where the forgery ring was run from .
The team is given news that this isn’t going to be a straightforward raid ,even though there may be other members of the criminal operation at the address,there are reports family members of the suspects live there too.
Judging the right amount of force needed when serving residential warrants against dangerous criminals.
Is a dificult scenario SWAT face daily.
With no answer the deputies at the front break in through the front door intelligence SWAT received before the operation is accurate,in the first bedroom they find a women and child hiding in a cuboard.
Both visibly scared and distressed,the deputies make sure they are led out of the house safely,with the property cleared of suspects a thorough search for evidennce is conducted.
At the back of the trailer ,equipment used to forge identity is found.
all evidence is collected and taken away to be used in the case against the two suspects arrested earlier,they basically found all the fraudulent documents ,the printer ,the pictures, the computer , all kinds of cutouts where they’ve been like making false documents .
Maricopa county’s deputies arresting five men accued of running an identity forgery ring -deputies say the five were all in the US illegally , they tell they got a tip and ran urveillance operation about six months before breaking up the ring.
they say the men were providing undocumented immigrants fake IDs to get a job in the US,Deputies also found hundreds of fake social security cards and illegal weapons.
This is one of Maricopa county’s largest ever ID theft busts,Back at the headquarters Joe Souza from human smuggling unit assesses the all.
In Arizona last year almost 1,2 million hours were spent by victims trying to recover and repair their identities at a stggering cost of $ 147 million .
And then it takes people years to clear up identity theft , you got the IRS coming after you,creditors coming after you , so it’s not a victimless crime threre’s tons of victims out there.
180 miles south of phoenix,is the town of Nogales,divided in two by the border with Mexico,it’s the favorite point of entry of illegal imigrants wanting to get into the US.
The division between the two countries is marked by a 15t high fence designed to keep drug traffickers and illegals from getting any further North, there are an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona alone.
Nogale’s police departement are on the front line of this war having to be on the lookout for people smugglers and criminals trying to evade capture.
Almost makeshift in parts officer Leslie Dominguez has to check the barrier each day for signs of activities.
What we have here is ahole on the fence ,pretty much what happens here is we get illegal aliens crossing into the US and we also get a lot of drug smuggling, it typically takes about 10 to 15 minutes for them to cut the hole as easy as that they just look in through the hole see if everything’s clear and then thy cross back in.
This urban area makes Nogales an attractive place to cross for illegals,it’s quick and safe route for them to negotiate.
The barrier here bears the scars of repeated attempts of those tryingn to break into America.
As you can see there are differentn patches layers where border patrol has actually had to come and cover holes that they’ve already dug into.
Lookouts are here 24/7 they normally just sit on the hill and just watch what Nogales police are doing, special now that there’s a hole here ,they probably seeing” you can’t cross into the US or you can’t move the drugs.”
Mexicans who make it thorugh the fence and pass the Nogales PD are not home and dry.
The US border patrol have spent $ 1 billion in the past year on smart surveillance along the frontier.
Basically what it is it’s a series of cameras that are stationary along the border that allows agents to actually have day time capabilities in order to see as well as nightimes capabilities.
Which is basically a thermal camera which will go ahead and give the agents ability to heat any heat signtures out there.
24 hours a day 7 days a week , 365 days a year and they ‘ve proven to be very effective in the enforcement effort along the border.
Every day border patrol apprehends over 2,000 people trying to enter the country illegally, the camera have spotted two men who agents believe have breached the fence.
The surveillance sent a relayer coordinates to ta team on the ground who stopped the suspects near the barrieer.
The agents tke no chances and search the suspects, they can’t be sure they are not drug mules or even coyotes.
The term used to describe a people smuggler.
It’s clear from the search that the men have little money and few belongings leading agents to believe their story that they are economic migrants.
The migrants revealed they paid a people smuggler to help them over but were separated from their group,the men revealed they would have had to pay another fee to the smugglers on arrival to Chicago.
Abonned by their smuggler the men have survived living rough around the inhospitable border area,this is not an uncommon story,the criminal gangs routinely dump their human cargo if they think they’re holding them back.
The smugglers ,they don’t care aboout the lives, they care about the profit so the two individuals can’t keep up, they’re willing to drop them off so they can continue and make more money off the individuals that can continue in this case eight other people that were able to continue with the guide.
The men’s epic Journey will end here, they’ve traveled a thousand miles and lost $ 1,300 , almost half a year’s wag for some back in Mexico.
They will now be fingerprinted and deported.
Every year Mexican Mafia gangs traffic narcotics worth billions of dollars across the border into the USA.
In South Phoenix,battling the drug gangs, falls to the Maricopa county SWAT team,today the team have been asked to serve a warrant on two houses known to be used by drug dealers in a particularly dangerous neighborhood.
Jesus Marino Hernandez,and has been arrested 32 times from dangerous drugs sales, aggravated assault on a police officer,his criminal history is like a book.
There’s intelligence that the criminals use CCTV cameras to monitor the area around the properties.
With this information ,deputies have to work undercover to come up with plan of attack on the property.
It’s a really bad area,it’s a high gang,high drug,high weapon traffic area.
That’s obviously,it is exactly what the’re serving the search warraqnt for i’t’s drug and weapons,they have intel that there’s three point surveillance on this house.
So that makes it extremely difficult to do they’re standard drive by on the house,so they going to go in plain clothes just see them now guarantee they’re watching.
As they enter the neighborhood,the officers take every precaution not to be dicovered,agent Rico gets out the car and begins his recon mission trying to act as normal as possible.
Agent Sanchez drives round to the pre- arranged pickup point and only 10 minutes later Rico calls to check again,the team believe they tthemselves are being tracked.
There was a truck that kept circling the area,it passed Rico three times, passed Sanches twice,so that’s kind of not normal for this area but there was a lot of people out, a lot people in their front yards, a lot people walking so Rick think they blended in pretty well.
Later that night after the team have been debriefed by Rico, they had out to hit the address,as the suspects have their own surveillance cameras, SWAT will hit the properties hard and fast to take them by surprise.
Before the people in the house can react, the team smash and break the windows,the family living at the property are brought out.
The suspect is still unaccounted for, so SWAT enter the house to search the property thoroughly,in the living room Rico discovers a large cashe of weapons,there’s guns everywhere,guns on the wall,everywhere.
The team move on to the property next door,the main suspect isn’t found but they do fins his associate hiding from the deputies,he’s also wanted on a drug related warrant and is arrested.
Despite not being able to appreahend the main suspect, it’s a good catch for the Maricopa County SWAT team.
There’s no end in sight in the war against drug dealers and people smugglers but this is another small victory for those on the front line,risking their lives everyday protecting America.
