Brooks County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 7,076. Its county seat is Falfurrias. The county is named for James Abijah Brooks, a Texas Ranger and legislator. It is one of the poorest counties in Texas. Much of it is large ranches: part of the King Ranch occupies the eastern portion of the county; the Mariposa Ranch is the largest on the county's west side. About 91% of the county's population is Latino.
"Death Valley" for migrants
In the documentary Missing in Brooks County, Brooks County is called the "epicenter" of America's immigration problem. Already in 2014 it was called a "Death Valley" for migrants. Brooks County is "the nation's busiest corridor for illegal immigration;" a tracking camera records up to 150 a night going through one piece of property. More illegal migrants die in Brooks County than in any other county in America. Though it lies about miles north of the border, it is on a main route for anyone entering from Mexico toward San Antonio and Dallas.
The biggest employer in Brooks County is the Border Patrol interior checkpoint on US 281, built in 1994 and much enlarged in 2019, called the Falfurrias checkpoint although it is not within the city. Many migrants attempt to bypass it by hiking some through the open, dry terrain, called by ranchers "the killing fields".
The ground is sandy and hard to walk on. Lack of landmarks often causes disorientation; some migrants walk in circles. Bright sun and high summer temperatures—regularly over —kill many of them of dehydration and exposure. They are also subject to mistreatment by smugglers, who may rape them or hold them for ransom by relatives. There are typically "a few dozen cellphone calls a day" to 911 from migrants in distress; between 2016 and 2018 there were 722 calls leading to rescues. The Border Patrol carried out the rescues, in the process arresting and/or deporting the rescued.
Every day, some 60 to 70 undocumented immigrants are apprehended by the Border Patrol of Brooks County, often saving their lives. According to Tom Slowinski, in charge of the facility in 2019, "no other checkpoint anywhere on the Southwest border catches more alien smuggling cases than this checkpoint right here."
Migrants bypassing the Border Patrol checkpoint sometimes damage property, tear down fences, steal, or threaten people on the ranches through which they pass. Residents resent the reputation the Border Patrol checkpoint has given their county, and the drain on their time and resources to deal with the many corpses—recovering, identifying when possible, and burying them—for a problem they did not create and have almost no control over. Between 2009 and 2018, over 600 bodies were recovered, and according to sheriff's deputy Benny Martinez, the corpses never found are 5 to 10 times more numerous than those found. Another estimate is over 2000. The missing persons reports are much more numerous than the bodies recovered. Most bodies are never identified.
The county has been described as "the biggest cemetery in America", the cost of dealing with migrant corpses has bankrupted the county, which has unsuccessfully sought federal help. The sheriff's department has been cut from 12 to 2 deputies, working 48 hour weeks with no health insurance and aging cars. The only public library in Brooks County, the Ed Rachal Memorial Library, is, in 2021, open one day a week. The Border Patrol, which does not answer 911 calls or recover dead bodies as a matter of policy, has in Brooks County dozens of new 4-wheel drive trucks with infrared, its own car wash, a helicopter, a blimp, a canine team, and 300 well-paid agents. (In 2019 pay for a starting agent with a high school diploma was $55,800 ().) In 2019 the facility was replaced by a new and larger one. It is the largest border checkpoint facility in the country, with the most modern equipment.
Measures to help the illegal migrants
South Texas Human Rights, based in Brooks County, operates a hotline to answer missing-person calls from relatives.
Humanitarian groups have set up water stations and emergency beacons on some Brooks County ranches. The Border Patrol sometimes arrests those who do so, although in an Arizona case, jurors refused to convict. Not all ranchers allow the water stations on their property, although the number is growing.
Some ranchers have given up on fencing, or have placed ladders so the migrants can climb over the fences without damaging them. One rancher, however, put a 220 volt electric line on his fencing.
Some ranchers have provided water stations, so that the migrants will not die on their property.
The water stations and other signs erected in the fields bear their geographical coordinates, so that those calling for help can say where they are.
Forrest Wilder, editor of the Texas Observer, has called for the station to be moved to a less dangerous location.
Measures against the migrants
In a crime unsolved as of 2020, 14 water stations were stolen.
Veterinarian Michael Vickers, who like Canales appears in the documentary Missing in Brooks County, is the co-founder of a paramilitary group, Texas Border Volunteers, that apprehends illegal migrants and turns them over to the Border Patrol.
Some are opposed to water stations. The South Texans' Property Rights Associations is an association of over 600 landowners, and keeps track of who will and who won't allow them.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (0.03%) is covered by water.
Major highways
25px U.S. Highway 281
25px Interstate 69C is currently under construction and will follow the current route of U.S. 281 in most places.
20px State Highway 285
20px Farm to Market Road 755
Adjacent counties
Jim Wells County (north)
Kleberg County (northeast)
Kenedy County (east)
Hidalgo County (south)
Starr County (southwest)
Jim Hogg County (west)
Duval County (northwest)
Demographics
As of the 2010 United States Census, 7,223 people were living in the county; 89.6% were White, 0.5% African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 7.9% of some other race, and 1.4% of two or more races. About 91.2% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).
As of the census of 2000, 7,976 people, 2,711 households, and 2,079 families were residing in the county. The population density was . The 3,203 housing units averaged . The racial makeup of the county was 75.84% White, 0.19% African American, 0.46% Native American, 0.09% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 21.58% from other races, and 1.77% from two or more races. About 91.57% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of the 2,711 households, 38.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.20% were married couples living together, 19.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.30% were not families. About 21.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.92, and the average family size was 3.38.
In the county, the age distribution was 31.60% under the age of 18, 8.90% from 18 to 24, 23.40% from 25 to 44, 21.70% from 45 to 64, and 14.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 94.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.90 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $18,622, and for a family was $22,473. Males had a median income of $23,051 versus $16,103 for females. The per capita income for the county was $10,234. About 36.90% of families and 40.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 51.70% of those under age 18 and 30.40% of those age 65 or over.
Politics
While Texas has become a stronghold of the Republican Party in the 21st century, Brooks County rests in the oldest extant Democratic stronghold in the state. It has never voted for a Republican presidential candidate since its creation in 1911.
Until 2020, no Republican had received more than 35% of the vote in the county since Richard Nixon in his 1972 landslide, and no Democrat since George McGovern that same year had received less than 65%. McGovern is one of only three Democrats, the others being Adlai Stevenson in 1956, and Joe Biden in 2020, to have received less than 60% of the vote in Brooks County since it first participated in presidential elections in 1912. In 2020, the county had a swing toward the Republican party in the national election. Despite the county still voting Democratic, it only gave 59% of the vote to Biden; his performance was the worst by a Democrat in Brooks County since 1956. Donald Trump was the first Republican to carry over 40% of the county's vote since 1972.
The only instance of Brooks County having ever cast its votes for a Republican was in 2010, when Comptroller Susan Combs won it during her re-election, as no Democrat filed to run.
Communities
City
Falfurrias (county seat)
Census-designated places
Airport Road Addition
Cantu Addition
Encino
Flowella
Unincorporated community
Rachal
Education
Brooks County Independent School District is the local K-12 school district.
Coastal Bend College (formerly Bee County College) is the designated community college for the county.
Movie
Missing in Brooks County is a feature-length documentary that examines the deaths in Brooks County of migrants seeking to avoid the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint near Falfurrias. The film has won numerous awards after its presentation at movie festivals. As of November 2021, RottenTomatoes has given it a 100% rating. According to the movie, the county is unhappy with the migrants; the county budget has taken a severe hit because of the large, unreimbursed expenses of recovering and burying migrant bodies, dead of dehydration or exposure. It was released for streaming November 2, 2021, and has been shown in selected theaters. It will be shown on PBS's Independent Lens series in January 2022.
