Watch Missing in Brooks County

Missing in Brooks County is a feature-length documentary film directed by Lisa Molomot that explores the issues of immigration and border control in Texas. The film centres around the work of activist Eduardo Canales and forensic scientist Dr. Lori Baker who both investigate the disappearance of hundreds of migrants who have lost their lives in the harsh terrain of Brooks County.

The film takes a non-fiction approach, focusing on the stories of real people who have been directly affected by the immigration crisis, and sheds light on the lack of resources and political will to address the crisis. The audience hears from migrants, their families, activists, and politicians which help in painting a bigger picture of the crisis.

The film presents the backstory for so many lost migrants from Central America who intended to cross the US border through Texas. The center of the story is the county of Brooks, which borders Mexico, and which has witnessed 100s of migrant disappearances in the past years as they succumbed to the unforgiving Texan desert terrain. But the county lacks the resources to deal with these cases.

The film’s primary protagonist is Eduardo Canales, who is a volunteer who works with the South Texans Human Rights Center, an organization that helps families find their loved ones who have disappeared while attempting to immigrate to the United States. He works with Lori Baker, a forensic anthropologist, and her students to identify bodies recovered from the brutal terrain that broke migrants as they tried to cross the borders.

The story unfolds as the documentary shows the efforts of Canales and Baker to identify bodies found around Brooks County through interviews with a number of people close to the issue. These include interviews with Mexicans who intend to make the trip to the other side, as well as interviews with migrants who have come into the US through the same route. The interviews and investigations provide the audience with harrowing tales of the events leading up to the tragic deaths that have become a norm in these Texan counties. We see how dehydration, starvation, and heatstroke claims many lives.

Furthermore, the documentary focuses on the personal stories of the families affected by the death of their loved ones. Some of these families, who are Mexican or simply are undocumented migrants living in America who are unable to see their families, have not seen their loved ones for years, while others have their loved ones' remains still unclaimed at the forensic lab.

The film also highlights the lack of resources being devoted to the issue by both the US and Mexican governments. while the Mexican government fails at acknowledging the extent of the problem, only focusing on 'crossing the border', the US government is challenged by a lack of funding, leading to death rates increasing over the last decade.

The film is an absolute must-watch, given the timeliness and importance of the topic. Especially how the human cost of the situation is ignored, so often providing a searing and unflinching look at the United States' ongoing immigration crisis. The film affects one, and the consequences of these policies, that this documentary portrays, are more grave than we can perhaps realize. The pursuit of the “American dream” is real, and yet the human costs of it remain hidden. The stories shared make us acknowledge the history that the United States has with the immigrants and how this issue became integral to their society.

Overall, Missing in Brooks County is a powerful and eye-opening documentary that demands attention in a time when immigration and border control have become matters of national debate. While the documentary raises many questions, it provides no solutions, leaving that up to the audience. Anyone interested in human rights, politics, law enforcement or criminal justice, migration or anyone who wishes to understand the complexity surrounding the issue must watch it.

Missing in Brooks County is a 2021 documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 21 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.1.