Free Republic

Some armless, others hobbling on spindly prosthetic legs, Honduran migrants came to Mexico City this week to protest their plight. Maimed in Mexico when they tried to catch a precarious train to reach the United States, they feel forgotten, ignored and with little reason to live. “Our visa [to enter the U.S.] is our mutilation, our handicap, our lost arms and legs,” said Jose Luis Hernandez, 29, of Progreso, Honduras. He fell off the train, known here as La Bestia — the Beast — in the northern border state of Chihuahua; caught under its wheels, Hernandez’s leg, left arm and...

Mexican authorities said Tuesday they staged 153 raids over the last year on a train known as “La Bestia” that rolled toward the U.S. border crowded with hundreds of Central American migrants. Following a big surge in child migrants reaching the U.S. border last year, Mexico’s government cracked down on routes commonly used by migrants to travel from Guatemala to the U.S. border. The head of the National Immigration Institute, Ardelio Vargas, said the 153 train raids were part of 758 immigration inspections over the last year. …

All aboard the 'death train' for the USA: Extraordinary images of hundreds of Central Americans climbing on top of lethal cargo train 'The Beast' in attempt to reach Mexico-U.S. border Hundreds of 'passengers' pile onto the freight train that departs from Mexico's southern Chiapas state. It is headed for Mexico City, where immigrants will attempt to travel north to the U.S. border But gangs have hijacked the route, charging $100 (£64) or more for permission to mount the train Passengers risk robbery, kidnapping, rape, and murder to start a new life in America Mexico's government was expected to put an...

Mexico’s Secretariat of the Interior is set to implement restrictions. MEXICO.- La Bestia, the train that hundreds of Central Americans travel on top of and in between its wagons on their journey through Mexico to the U.S. border, may no longer be used for this purpose. According to Mexico’s Secretariat of the Interior, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, measures are being taken to restrict non-permitted use of the train. La Bestia has already claimed the lives of many migrants riding on it, and has also resulted in hundreds of injuries (including dismemberment) to those who have fallen off it. In an...

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.... People call the train La Bestia, or The Beast.... 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. "They're just packed," says photojournalist Keith Dannemiller, "There's not much...