Guest Author - Heather Davis
Patrolling the borders of the United States and keeping Americans safe is the overall goal of the Department of Homeland Security. The 18,049 men and women who guard U.S. borders have an interesting and often dangerous job. ABC is documenting the activity along America's borders while following various agencies whose main goal is to safeguard the borders including Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The issues that they deal with range anywhere from drug smuggling to human trafficking but manage to toss in a humorous moment in here and there. In an episode titled “Looks Like It's Been Through An Autopsy", border patrol agents come across a woman coming into the United States from a brief trip in Mexico with her 9 month old daughter and a little girl she claims she is babysitting. Agents are skeptical that the 4 year old child is hers. The little girl tells agents that she doesn't know the woman that she is with. Border agents have to figure out whether or not this child is actually a U.S. citizen and who she belongs to.
In this same episode, CPB agents discover a skull in the bag of a man crossing the Canadian border into the U.S. When they ask the man if he has any weapons, he goes to open the trunk and is informed that he is not allowed to bring weapons across the border. Agents were very nervous as to what else they may find in the back of his vehicle.
Homeland Security USA is great look into the world of law enforcement through the eyes of those patrolling our borders. It is amazing what people try to get away with when entering into the country. There is no doubt that the men and women responsible for the borders have to be cautious and pay a lot of attention to detail. The show was able to take its camera into places we really don't want to see personally. It is probably a great way to deter people from smuggling drugs or small children into the United States.
