Migrants on “la Bestia”. Every year, tens of thousands of people, 90 percent of them Central American, cross the length of Mexico in hopes of reaching the United States. Many hop trains known as la Bestia (the Beast.)
There’s a network of freight trains that runs the length of Mexico, from its southernmost border with Guatemala north to the United States. In addition to grain, corn or scrap metal, these trains are carrying an increasing number of undocumented immigrants whose aim is to cross into the U.S., reports NPR.
And despite the many deadly challenges it poses, more and more children — both with adults and alone — have been making the risky journey.
These aren’t passenger trains; there are no panoramic windows, seats or even a roof to guard from sun or rain. People call the train La Bestia, or The Beast. Some call it the Death Train.
It’s estimated that up to a half-million migrants now ride The Beast each year, sitting back-to-back along the spine of the train cars, trying not to get knocked off their rooftop perch.
Mexican authorities claim they staged 153 raids in 2014-2015 on the train as it headed toward the U.S. border crowded with hundreds of Central American migrants. They claim their efforts at reducing the number of immigrants were successful. While some suspected the first raids on the train in August were merely for show, it appears that the consequences of a railroad accident with 700 or 1,200 migrants on board would have been both a massive tragedy and a public relations nightmare.
It’s believed that this pressure from the Mexican authorities led to some illegal immigrants switching to buses, a more expensive but less policed method of illegally entering the U.S.
