Águilas

Documentary short. The Aguilas (eagles) search the desert border between Mexico and Arizona for lost boarder crossers. This group of a dozen or 2 volunteers try to recover whatever they can find of the missing travelers. Compassionate film of a story you don't hear much about.

Submitted for an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Short, Kristy Guevara-Flanagan's "Águilas" ("Eagles" in English) focuses on people who scour the Arizona desert looking for the bodies of immigrants who died trying to cross the border undetected.

It's worth noting that people cross into the US to escape repression in their countries (all of it backed by the US). They risk life and limb to seek a better existence in the US. As to the question of whether or not our immigration system is broken, one might argue that it's doing exactly what it got designed to do. Harrowing stuff.

Other productions that focus on this topic are "El Norte" and "Desierto".