Ok, the first few episodes I thought were pretty interesting and started binge watching it, but the more you watch it, the more you realize how heavily edited it is and what a farce the CBP seem to be. Not only do scenes/cases from previous episodes somehow pop up in other episodes (I guess they ran short?), but if you watch enough episodes, you can see how much the agents are just taking shots in the dark.
I will admit, they do find a decent amount of contraband, but that's just because they stop and search such a high number of people.
The VAST majority of the time, they just stop passengers on "a hunch". They've just "got a feeling" or the passenger "seems nervous", or something else completely arbitrary and unquantifiable.
Ok:
1) Some people are just anxious - there's a legitimate disorder called Generalized Anxiety Disorder where you're just nervous (pretty much all the time) for no specific reason. Place someone with that disorder in a stressful situation (like traveling - especially to a foreign country) and their anxiety is going to be through the roof. They even had a guy who said he had an anxiety disorder, and the officer mocked him, saying, "Yeah, I get anxious too." Obviously they have no idea what they're talking about or they wouldn't compare the two.
2) If you're in an airport in a foreign country and all of the sudden, officers are pulling you aside and asking you tons of questions (in a foreign language) WITH TV cameras on you, no matter how innocent you are, you're gonna be nervous and sweating!
They pull these passengers aside on a whim and start belligerently asking them all these questions (that they really don't have a right/reason to ask), and detain them if they don't like the answers or if the person seems fidgety. They just keep pressing them and pressing them, but at the same time ask why they're so nervous. Maybe because they're being badgered just for coming off a plane?
What's funny (and probably happens WAY more often than shown). They'll detain a guy for hours, CERTAIN that he's smuggling something. They'll use all sorts of tactics to try illicit a confession (intimidation, good cop/bad cop, threats, etc), and just keep up the pressure.
After having torn apart their luggage (including cutting the bag apart) without finding anything, officers will make them do a body scan (x-ray). I've only seen the x-ray reveal contraband in a passenger's stomach ONCE. All the other times it's just proof the traveler isn't hiding anything, and the officers were just completely misreading the body language.
Even when they come up empty, they won't admit they're wrong or apologize; they just say, "Well, maybe we didn't find anything THIS time, but you can never be too careful. The x-ray may have missed it, but we don't have anything to hold them on." Then they have the gall to say, "Welcome to the US," after having just harassed a foreign national w/o as much as a coupon for a free Cinnabon or flight voucher.
Really, the few people they legitimately catch outright are idiots who didn't even spend 5 minutes trying to think of a plausible cover story as to where they're from, where they're going, and why.
And when those people do come clean and try to cooperate, the agents ACTIVELY dissuade them from seeking legal advice. A person will say, "I'm willing to cooperate, but I think I should have a lawyer." The officers HEAVILY insinuate if they're truthful, they won't get into trouble, and when the suspect mentions counsel, they shut it down. "It's your right to have a lawyer, but that means we can't talk anymore. If you talk, I can help you, but if you want a lawyer, we can't talk - you can't do both." Which is a blatant lie. Yes, questioning has to stop until counsel arrives, but the suspect can still speak to and cooperate with the authorities.
Honestly, I'm surprised none of the officers have faced any lawsuits for unlawful detention, intimidation, or any number of other violations.
Even when they show the officers who are just going through incoming parcels and not dealing with people, they will cut apart and drill into merchandise, ON A HUNCH, and come up empty. Who pays for that stuff??
