They call it the "Graveyard Shift" on the Paso Del Norte Bridge, but what happens there between midnight and 8:00 a.m. is enough to wake the dead. You never know how it's going to end, but it always begins the same. Canine enforcement officers and their canine partners start weaving in and out of lines of waiting vehicles, dancing though a sea of headlights to the rhythms of horns and shouts, looking for illegal contraband, cocaine, marijuana, and ecstasy.

11:00 p.m: A sudden influx of minors begins, teenagers 17 and younger, rushing to get back into the U.S. to meet El Paso's established city curfew for minors. For these kids, partying in Mexico is the thing to do - alcohol is easy to come by, the good times roll, and some of the young people from El Paso now lined up at the border are "old hands" at getting high before 11 and home before midnight. They arrive at U.S. Customs intact, but barely. Some are losing their belts, some their trousers. A few arrive at Customs wearing little more than what they entered the world with. The night air is cold, but they don't seem to mind. They are painfully ignorant of the danger their behavior invites.

On this night, the wind is gusting so strong that lamp covers are falling off. Metal flag poles are bending in the wind. Still, supervisory Customs inspectors, senior inspectors, Customs inspectors, canine enforcement officers, K-9s, and security guards are out doing their jobs, moving between clouds of exhaust fumes that mingle with the dust.

Customs inspectors finish 10 secondary inspections in less than 30 minutes each. They conclude hundreds of primary inspections every hour. Several vehicles have overheated and stalled during the night. Customs crews haul them manually from primary lanes.

It is several minutes before midnight. The shift finally changes and a new inspectional crew report for duty. A new team readies to face new challenges. Just past midnight, a second wave of pedestrian traffic materializes, mostly young adults on the way back from their adventures in Mexico.

1:00 a.m.: Foot traffic increases. Patrons exiting the Mexican bar scene report that the nightclubs on the Mexican side are still booming; filled to capacity. Customs inspectors know what that means: given the one-hour time difference between the two countries, they can expect the greatest movement of pedestrians and vehicular traffic within the hour.

People driving under the influence (DUI's) are quickly ID'd and stopped by vigilant inspectors before they can wreak havoc on El Paso's streets. In one case, the El Paso Police Department is called and two people are arrested.

1:30 a.m.: The flow of traffic and pedestrians looks like a Mardi Gras celebration. Pedestrians stumble across the U.S. border, incoherent and in a state of disarray. Some are oblivious - others are combative and argumentative. They present themselves for Customs formalities with less than perfect posture - some are physically supported, even carried, by friends and companions, eyes and bodies moving north, south, east, and west.

2:00 a.m.: A five-car fender bender on the bridge triggers a rapid response from Customs. Security officers rush to maintain order. A driver who appears intoxicated wants to go head-to-head with authorities. Customs finishes its business with the driver and then calls Security and the El Paso Police Department.

2:30 a.m.: A young man climbs up a flag pole on the U.S. side in the presence of Customs officials. Things are jumping tonight at the PDN crossing in El Paso. Although Customs didn’t intercept any contraband that night, the night before inspectors had seized 9,300 pounds of marijuana at the Ysleta cargo facility.

It's Sunday morning and shortly after 3:00 a.m., the men and women on this early morning shift look forward to a couple of slow hours before the sun rises, the cities wake up, and people begin crossing in large numbers again. They've done their jobs. In El Paso, West Texas/New Mexico Customs Management Center, and at a long line of ports along the Southwest border, Customs personnel have demonstrated their camaraderie, their dedication, and their devotion to service. Wide-awake, exhilarated, and amazed that they've weathered another typically "unquiet" night on the border, they pack up, ready to face another day.