The BEST Episodes of Border Wars
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Mar 11, 2021
Network: National Geographic
The officers and agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) scour the inhospitable landscape at one of the busiest border crossings in the country, seeking to intercept illegal entrants from the air, on the ground, and at the port of entry. Every day thousands of men, women and children attempt to enter the United States illegally -- some looking for work, some seeking a new life and others trying to smuggle drugs or other contraband. Many will do whatever it takes, often risking their lives by crossing Arizona's treacherous Sonoran Desert. Now, follow the officers and agents who struggle every day to defend this border, including: Officer Hector Navarro, part of the anti-terrorism contraband enforcement team; Agent Simon Keller, part of an 18-man all-terrain vehicle unit that navigates desert terrain too rough for cars; Officer Oscar Peru, who patrols the vast Arizona desert from a helicopter; Officer Mark Shanley, a 26-year CBP veteran who uses his hard-won experience to supplement the official manual; and Chief Rene Felix, a Nogales native with a personal mission to keep drug smugglers out of his town.
#1 - Million Dollar Stash
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired Nov 20, 2011
Agents persue a pickup truck loaded down with drugs ferried from Mexico; a routine vehicle inspection uncovers a large stash of heroin.
8.67 #2 - War on the Streets
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired Nov 28, 2012
South Texas has become a hotspot for smuggling activities on the border.
8.40 #3 - War Games
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired Nov 21, 2012
Tactical cat-and-mouse games used in the war on drugs.
8.17 #4 - Going Underground
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired Oct 30, 2011
El Paso officers detain a father and son suspected of smuggling drugs.
7.93 #5 - Rio Grande Rookies
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired Dec 12, 2012
Not Available.
7.91 #6 - Rio Grande Reefer
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired Jul 30, 2012
Human smugglers and the drug cartels use the Rio Grande River as a route to cross the border with their contraband.
7.90 
#7 - Special Ops
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired Dec 5, 2012
Specially trained agents deal with problems specific to the border in South Texas.
7.82 
#8 - Million Dollar Drug Busts
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired Apr 8, 2015
The show takes a look at the highest valued multi-million dollar drug busts along the border.
7.74 
#9 - Death on the Rio Grande
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired Aug 29, 2010
Agents try to identify the body of a young man who drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande. Later, officers crack down on a human-smuggling operation and raid a safe house containing more than 20 illegal immigrants.
7.74 #10 - Fence Jumpers
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired Aug 20, 2012
An illegal immigrant chase; new crossing and concealment strategies.
7.56 #11 - The War Comes Home
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired Dec 19, 2012
Agents in South Texas work to stop drug dealers, smugglers and undocumented immigrants from infiltrating residential neighborhoods and getting innocent bystanders involved.
7.54 #12 - Bullets Over the Border
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired Jul 9, 2012
Agents respond to a shoot-out on the Rio Grande; a stash of cocaine hidden in a car floor.
7.53 #13 - Toxic Drug Tanker
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired Nov 13, 2011
Smugglers bury drugs inside the toxic content of tanker trucks.
7.50 #14 - Drug-Smuggling Grandma
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired Sep 25, 2011
With the help of a Blackhawk helicopter, agents arrest a suspected smuggler who is backpacking drugs into the U.S.
7.46 #15 - Tunnel Smoke-out
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired Aug 27, 2012
A getaway car smuggling drugs; illegal immigrants led by a human smuggler; a hidden tunnel in a house.
7.44 #16 - Cocaine Dump Truck
Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired Sep 17, 2012
An undercover "buy and bust" operation in Puerto Rico; agents race to find illegal immigrants who have landed on a secluded beach.
7.44 
#17 - Midnight Drug Run
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired Nov 3, 2010
Agents conduct a citywide sting in San Juan in an effort to bust gang-affiliated drug dealers. In Miami, deportation officers deal with a complex case of a family man facing deportation.
7.44 #18 - Traffic
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired Nov 14, 2012
Illegal traffic between the Rio Grande and the Falfurrias Checkpoint in South Texas.
7.33 
#19 - Smuggler's Tunnel
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired Sep 18, 2011
Agents uncover a drug smuggling tunnel and narcotics in a freight train.
7.33 #20 - Cash and Corruption
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired Jan 16, 2013
7.29 #21 - No End in Sight
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired Feb 10, 2010
National Geographic goes inside the US-Mexico border with unprecedented access to the growing arsenal of high tech cameras, ground radar, and skilled trackers who are faced with the challenge of controlling the desert every day. A report on illegal immigration follows drug smugglers and job seekers as they risk their lives attempting to cross the Mexico-U.S. border. Also, a look inside the U.S. Border Patrol.
7.28 #22 - Meth Mobile
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired Jul 16, 2012
The agents enlist the help of the A-Star surveillance helicopter to track a suspected smuggling ring.
7.27 
#23 - Crossing At All Costs
Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired Apr 15, 2015
Follow along as border patrol agents hunt down drug runners and illegal immigrants trying to cross the border and sneak into the U.S. any way they possibly can.
7.21 
#24 - The Front Lines
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired Jan 25, 2010
Officer Hector Navarro apprehends a heroin smuggler at the Nogales, Ariz., port of entry. Meanwhile, a wanted man with a criminal past tries crossing through the Nogales pedestrian gate.
7.16 #25 - Animals on the Frontline
Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired Jan 2, 2013
For those rare occasions when human skills are insufficient, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and local law enforcement officers turn to their friends in the animal world for some on-the-job help. In Rio Grande City, Archie, a CBP K-9, helps agents track a group of illegal immigrants spotted passing through.
7.14