Factual error: The very first shot of the movie takes place in Chandler, Arizona. However, the mountains seen in the distance, over the hills, are the Sandia Mountains which are in New Mexico, near Albuquerque. (00:01:00)
Factual error: At the beginning when Kate enters the bedroom and is shot at, the hole made by the shotgun could only be made by slug ammunition, but you see buckshot around the hole. Buckshot at that range of about 12 to 15 ft. would not have made a center hole anywhere near that size. (00:03:20)
Factual error: When the forensic crime scene investigator is asked how many bodies are in the house he states that they have not checked the attic or crawl space. The house is built on a slab foundation and would not have any crawl spaces. Easy mistake for a writer to make if they never lived in the southwest where such construction methods are employed. (00:05:30)
Suggested correction: Some houses in the southwestern US are built with crawl spaces, especially in areas on or near rugged terrain (as shown in the beginning of the movie). Also, it's possible the cartel dug in a crawl space to create extra room to hide more bodies.
Other mistake: When being driven to the private DOD plane at Luke AFB in Arizona for the trip to Texas, the vehicle has a Texas registration sticker on the windshield instead of a Arizona sticker. (00:19:00 - 00:20:00)
Factual error: When Forsing moves his hand to unlock the door, the bolt on the weapon is in the open position. AR/M are fired from the closed bolt position. (00:35:25)
Factual error: The tunnel into Mexico is described as being near Sasabe, stated as being east of Nogales. In reality, Sasabe is west of Nogales. (00:51:20)
Continuity mistake: When Kate and Reggie discuss in her motel room, Reggie is sitting at the table intent on eating an apple. In the first shot he's going to put the apple in front of his mouth, but in the next shot he doesn't accomplish any action. (00:55:51)
Continuity mistake: When Kate goes to the bar she orders two beers. After she pays and steps away she grabs both bottles with her left hand. The next shot is her walking away from the bar holding one beer bottle in her right hand. (01:05:10)
Factual error: At the beginning when Kate kicks in the door to the bedroom it swings the wrong way, A door for a room in that configuration would swing towards the the other wall, not giving up 3 feet of swing dead space and making for an awkward entry. (02:42:00)
Visible crew/equipment: Towards the beginning of the film we see the convoy driving to Ciudad Juárez on the highway. In the reflection of the last car one can see the Russian Arm used to film the vehicles.
Character mistake: After Macer shoots the shotgun man during the house raid, she checks his pulse without removing the weapon from his hands first.
Character mistake: Just before coming back to the U.S. at the border, Forsing takes his hand off the trigger to unlock the truck door. For anyone properly trained the trigger hand will always stay on the weapon - the forehand would be used for everything else.
Continuity mistake: When Alejandro shoots the man threatening the police officer, there is very little blood splatter on the open trunk. Next shots of the trunk show much more blood on it.
Plot hole: The only reason Kate is brought onto Matt's team is to give the CIA legal authority to operate on US soil. Given that he already has DEA agents and US Marshals on the team, all of whom seem to be fully aware of what he is doing and have no problem with it, this doesn't make a great deal of sense. Her idealism makes her a poor choice for the sort of operations the team is doing, and there are already domestic US agents available.
Factual error: Kate is said to have been on the FBI SWAT team since day one, and therefore has never worked a case from behind a desk. However, FBI SWAT teams are composed of regular field agents who respond to tactical scenarios only as needed, and otherwise carry out normal investigative duties. Unless this is the most overworked SWAT team in history, Kate would certainly have handled at least a few cases from a non-tactical perspective.
Factual error: In Juárez, the Mexican police are wearing vests with "Polícia Federal." The actual spelling should be "Policía Federal." "Polícia Federal" is Portuguese. "Policía Federal" is Spanish. The vests used in the movie are Brazilian, not Mexican.
Factual error: During the briefing before El Paso a group of men were introduced as "Delta." There were not "Delta" due to a couple of items: 1) They were using single point slings, that's a S.E.A.L. thing. Delta prefer to use two point slings. 2) Their sidearms were SIG P226, another S.E.A.L. thing. 3) Their dropleg holsters were way lower than Delta prefers theirs.
Factual error: When Blunt enters the room and is shot at, she stitches the guy with a full auto burst. If you are doing a hostage rescue, you don't have your weapon on full auto.
Continuity mistake: Just a minute before the shootout at the border in Juárez, a shot from above shows a cop approaching the Cartel members in the red car from behind. However, when the camera cuts to a different angle, the cop has vanished.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning, when the Mexican cop is taking his breakfast and the kid is in front of him playing with the orange, the kid's head changes positions between shots. He has his chin or cheek on the table.
