Border Security: America's Front Line

This show is pique reality TV: there's only maybe 7-8 minutes of content per episode, but they keep cutting away and recapping content over and over, filling out a 21 minute program.

Compared to the Canada and Australia versions of this program, the American customs and immigration staff seem a good deal less competent and more aggressive. They make accusations against people and ask them to prove a negative. They're generally ruder. They ask for documentation for trivial items. They damage people's items very frequently, items proven harmless, and don't compensate people for the loss. They will prohibit entry for behavior of a person's non-present family members. They use language suggesting America is uniquely "in danger", expressing that American hyper-paranoia and self-aggrandizement.

Also, any drug testing on items in close contact with cash should be considered invalid - all cash will test positive for drugs due to contamination. They use this to go on fishing expeditions that usually turn up nothing. A lot of bad faith behavior.

You see the episode 4 times by the time the show is over. I'd rather see more commercials.

I like the idea behind the whole show but just play it once, do not recap it over and over and over again.

I can't believe these people go through this amount of interrogation for such petty infractions.. I received second hand embarrassment watching these cops act so high and mighty over the dumbest BS.

Turned off about 10 mins into the first episode.

They play and replay the scenes to amp it up and create tension within each episode so it creates about 50% filler material. They bounce back and forth between each of the border locations, so you only see a few moments of each before it rips you away to the next one again. All that being said, I somewhat enjoy the episodes and fast forward through the filler material. Also a really annoying narrator who's continually making puns. But it's cool to see how professional the customs agents generally are.

Would be a good show if producers didn't think viewers were not to bright constant replays like we can't remember 5 minutes ago. If you time it in 30minutes you get 10 minutes actual footage 10 minutes replays of said footage and 10 minutes of commercials. Instead of so many replays show more footage or follow ups to results of the violators. What happens when you're prohibited from entering and get sent back to the country or origin who pays for the return ticket. Do they ever follow the drugs to destination or are they just destroyed those would be good things to show instead of constant replays.