The HBO documentary ‘Critical Incident’ looks at a death, and a coverup, on the border

A scene from "Critical Incident."Courtesy of HBO

Footage of federal agents violently accosting food cart vendors, ride share drivers, and other ordinary people rages across the internet. It’s become clear that inflicting just about any amount of misery on a person who could even be suspected of being in the country illegally is a federally sanctioned school of thought. Call it abuse of power, nativism, paramilitary overreach, what have you.

But don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s a phenomenon confined to the last year. The new, under-the-radar HBO documentary “Critical Incident” proves that idea wrong with piercing specificity.

The title sounds like it belongs to a generic action movie, or a first-person shooter game. (It has actually been used at least twice for two unrelated TV series.) In this instance, the film argues persuasively, it represents a shadowy piece of bureaucracy that had been used to cover up sometimes lethal use of force by Border Patrol agents. Need a lawsuit to go away? Send a Critical Incident Team of Border Patrol agents to clean up (or outright falsify) inconvenient facts. “Critical Incident” depicts the gradual uncovering of this practice with a sense of real-time drama, and with a high-profile death at its center.

Anastasio Hernández Rojas was a 42-year-old undocumented Mexican immigrant when he died in the custody of Border Patrol agents in San Diego in 2010. Agents claimed he had violently resisted arrest as he tried to cross back into San Diego, and that he had methamphetamine in his system. His widow, Maria Puga, didn’t believe it. A grand jury, using the “evidence” made available, declined to prosecute. Investigative reporter John Carlos Frey was skeptical of the official version. So was former Border Patrol agent Jenn Budd. They found the excuses offered for why there was no video evidence feeble.

Journalist John Carlos Frey in "Critical Incident."Courtesy of HBO

Then Budd came across an acronym in a document: CIT. Neither she nor Frey were familiar with it, and at first they weren’t even sure CITs were real. They kept digging, as did international human rights lawyer and law professor Roxanna Altholz. Denials were made. Doors were slammed in faces. The digging continued. A Senate investigation commenced.

Would you believe some of the authorities appear to have been lying?

Structurally, “Critical Incident” starts with a specific case and then gradually expands its focus to look at systemic corruption. What the doc uncovers goes far beyond Rojas; his death becomes less the film’s primary subject than its engine and its roadmap into wider terrain.

“Critical Incident” is an important film, but watching it never feels like eating your vegetables. Director Rick Rowley, an Oscar nominee for his 2013 documentary “Dirty Wars,” wrings thrills from all of that digging and the process of speaking truth to power. The doc is a real-life conspiracy thriller to go with fictional offerings like “The Chair Company,” “Common Side Effects,” “Paradise,” and take your pick of others. The fact that it’s part of our current reality makes it all the more chilling.

But the fact that the film helped change our current reality for the better is pretty inspiring (even if you’ve followed the CIT news, the doc goes down better without spoilers). Most of “Critical Incident” was shot before masked and anonymous ICE agents started routinely yanking people off American streets and detaining them in secret locations. Yet the film is quite relevant to our ongoing national Kafka novel. Rowley interviews two former Border Patrol internal affairs officers who essentially say the same thing: Border Patrol is often more interested in using paramilitary force than practicing the subduing tactics suggested within standard law enforcement.

On a more optimistic note, “Critical Incident” illustrates what can happen when everyday people, like Maria Puga, refuse to back down, and when others are determined to expose abuses of power.

The turn from one year to another can often mark a dumping ground for programming that might not seem terribly sexy or franchise-able (or particularly good). But something vital and unexpected can make it through the seasonal cracks. Kudos to HBO for getting this one out under the 2025 wire.

CRITICAL INCIDENT

Directed by Rick Rowley. With Maria Puga, John Carlos Frey, Jenn Budd, Roxanna Altholz, Gene Iredale, and Rodney Scott. Debuts 9 p.m. Monday on HBO and HBO Max.