Inside our border's first line of defense

At New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport, a baggage search of the passenger from Ghana uncovers a small document with the potential for big trouble.

Varsamas: Tell me how long have you had this green card?

Ghanan passenger: Oh, uh, a year now.

Officer Tommy Varsamas: From having a green card or a passport in your hands for so many years and developing muscle memory, it just doesn't feel right, even if you don't look at it, it doesn't feel right. The other thing is the green cards have colors on the side. This doesn't have it. This has a die cut like it went through a machine where you pull and die pushes it, so this has been mass-produced in my opinion.

Varsamas: Did you know that it was a crime to have a counterfeit green card?

Passenger: Obviously, once it's counterfeit, it's ... Actually didn't know it was on me. Honestly.

Varsamas: It's a yes or no answer. Did you know?

Passenger: Yes

Varsamas: Have you ever used it?

Passenger: Never.

Varsamas: You want me to believe you?

Passenger: Yes, sir.

Varsamas: You're 10 years older than me, like I said you're smarter, wiser and you're very good with your words, but you actually expect me to believe that you paid $150 for a counterfeit green card, that you've had for over a year so you could bring it to America and not have enough money to conduct biz and you did not use this to get a job here?

Passenger: Never, never in my life have I ever used this.

Varsamas: Everything you've said does not make sense. Tell me, what's going to happen when I put this number in the computer and I get somebody's picture. Is it going to be a picture of somebody who looks like you?

Passenger: No. I don't think so.

Varsamas: Or is it going to be somebody else?

Passenger: I don't know what it's going to be, honestly.

The answer to that question comes by fax a few minutes later.

Varsamas: The number of the green card belongs to this person. Clearly it does not look like him. Very shady.

Officer Varsamas determines this woman is guiltless. The same cannot be said for the passenger from Ghana.

He will be sent home on the next available flight and banned from the United States.

Varsamas: He will not be able to come back for five years.

Back at LAX
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, officer Grant suspects this man from Mexico hasn't arrived just to see family but to work illegally -- and has done so before. If true, he too could be deported and kept out of the United States, and away from his daughter for up to 5 years.

Grant: When was the first time you entered?

Passenger: In 2003, I received the visa.

Grant: How long did you stay?

Passenger: That time, like a year and three months.

Grant: What were you doing for a year and three months?

Passenger: I was a gardener for the county.

It takes officer Grant just 31 minutes to get to the truth: that this young man had been working illegally in the United States.

Her decision is now clear and easy to make.

Grant: He worked. He overstayed. We're going to send him back to Mexico. He violated the immigration law twice. He's going to be barred for five years. He cannot return to the United States. Unfortunately, he has a daughter, a U.S. citizen daughter. And that's the sad part from this situation.

Bruce Mulraney, section chief, passport control: In most law enforcement positions you do bad things to people, but usually it's bad people you're doing it to. So in this line of work sometimes you have to do bad things to people who aren't bad -- someone trying to make a better life for themselves, for their family.

Adopted babies
But while one passenger is sent home, others are being admitted and granted entry even though they're incapable of filling out any forms or answering a single question.

Officer: And I’ll call you when everything is done...

Off to the side at LAX's passport control, in their own little lane, their own little world, are a handful of couples returning from China with their newly adopted children.

Officer: Do you know how many adoption families we have on this plane?

Bruce Mulraney, section chief: They'll travel to China. They'll formally adopt a baby. However, there's a section of law that states that if a person is adopted by U.S. citizens and then admitted to the United States as lawful permanent residents, they derive U.S. citizenship. So those babies came here as foreigners and left the building as U.S citizens. That's one of the miracles of immigration law, which can do just about anything.

It's a common occurrence here, but one that still raises smiles with veteran officers.

Mulraney: These children have hit the lottery in a manner of speaking by being adopted and coming to the United States. And it can kind of be a heartwarming experience for us. I mean, I get a kick out of it, myself.

Safe harbor
It's not only airports that are covered by Customs and Border Protection - it also polices the nation's maritime borders.

Donald Kusser, Assistant Port Director, Tactical Operations (17 years on the job): We are at the Los Angeles-Long Beach Sea Port, which is actually the largest sea port complex in the United States. Chances are there is something in your house that has actually come through this sea port.

It's a massive commercial hub. But the containers present a potential danger to national security, the perfect place to hide something dangerous - even a small nuclear weapon.

Kusser: The number one priority of CBP is to prevent terrorists and terrorist weapons from from entering the United States.

At these stations, officers screen the containers for radiation before they ever hit the U.S. highways.

Kusser: The main purpose of the radiation portal monitor is to interdict potential terrorist weapons, radiological dirty bombs or a nuclear bomb.

If radioactive material is detected, it will trigger this alarm.

Officer Keith Labranche (3 years working): Anything can happen at any time. You never know what you might see out there and we all have family out there, so we all want to make sure we do a good job and nothing gets in the public that might hurt someone.

And then...

Gamma alert, gamma alert … This is not a drill. This is a real alarm.

This truck has set off the detector. Now it's time to move -- and fast.

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