Thursday, September 2, 2010

Reality Show Patrols Border


The second season of "Border Wars" premiered this week, showing Border Patrol agents prowling the border.

In "Checkpoint Texas," one of the premiere episodes, agents follow footprints and assist sick migrants they find in the desert. Catching some in the dusty desert, they also disturb a drug cartel as their narcotics-filled van plunges into the river.

In one case, the agents narrate their search to the cameras as the follow a group through the dust.

"Hands on your head!" they tell migrants in Spanish, as night vision cameras record the scenes.

"There are seven in all, and they look exhausted from their journey," the narrator tells the audience.

The travelers say they're from Brazil and Sri Lanka, which the narrator explains is unusual -- they are usually from Mexico.

It's just in time, he adds.

"A few minutes later, and they could be in a van, headed toward Houston," the narrator said.

"it's a bitter end to a harrowing journey," the narrator said, as the man from Sri Lanka said he had been traveling for two months to escape war in his county. In broken English, he explains how he flew to Brazil first, traveling from there.

The team also encountered an injured woman and her daughter, who had been walking by themselves for two days. They're dehydrated and barely walking.

The mother explains that at first, they were told they would only need to walk for two hours, but after crossing the border, they were told seven or eight hours. Her daughter had an asthma attack, and the group left them alone.

Later this season, you can follow the team find a car with ammunition hidden in the console in "Contraband Highway" and determine whether twin girls are really escorted by their father in "Last Defense."

Source and Photo: National Geographic

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