‘La Bestia’: The Train of Death

A migrant climbs down from a freight train en route to the U.S.-Mexico border near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on May 10, 2023. Many migrants make the cheap yet dangerous ride north through Mexico on a network of freight trains, known as La Bestia (the Beast). (John Moore/Getty Images)

GUADALAJARA, MEXICO—Every year, close to 500,000 Central American migrants trying to reach the U.S.-Mexico border ride a series of cargo trains through Mexico collectively known as “La Bestia,” which translates to “the beast”; it is also known as the “train of death” because so many die riding the rail line.

“The risk of the trains is that many migrants, because of the way the trains change and how fast they go or stop ... are victims of different issues … including falling off the train or different medical conditions,” Ariel Ruiz-Soto, a policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), told The Epoch Times.

“The train provides an alternative for some migrants, usually families, the poor, single adults, who are trying to come [to the United States].”

La Bestia’s network of trains begins in the southern part of Mexico, close to the Guatemalan border, and continues throughout the entire country, stopping at various Mexican states and ultimately traveling to northern border cities like Juarez (across from El Paso, Texas), Reynosa (across from McAllen, Texas), Nogales (close to Tuscon, Arizona), and Tijuana (across from San Diego, California).

Typically, the cargo trains transport a variety of products to the United States, including food, automobiles, transportation equipment, cement, chemicals, and plastics. They are operated by several private companies in Mexico, according to the MPI.

The trains travel directly into the United States, though they are heavily screened by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

“There are trains that go [from] Nuevo Laredo, Mexico to the Laredo area in Texas, but those trains are significantly surveilled, and the border patrol has scanners for every train that goes through that part of the U.S. border,” said Ruiz-Soto.

“Migrants use the trains just before the border cities where they know there will be increased surveillance, and then they get off, they are not trying to [ride the train] into the United States.”

Ruiz-Soto said he has spoken to border patrol agents who have said they have not seen a single person trying to sneak onto one of the cargo trains that travel into the United States for months.

Horror Stories From La Bestia

There are many dangers for migrants who ride La Bestia, including kidnapping, murder, extortion, and rape.

Though illegal, hundreds of desperate migrants choose to ride La Bestia by jumping onto the side of freight cars or climbing on top of them. Several fall to their deaths beneath the train, killed once they land on the rail lines and are caught beneath the train’s wheels.

“We started with twelve when we left Guatemala,” Emmanuel Perez of Venezuela told The Epoch Times. “Now that we are in Guadalajara [Mexico], we are only three; there has been much loss along the way.”

He said some were lost by falling off the train, and in one instance, it was incredibly tragic.

“My friend was standing on the train, and he was not paying attention, and we were going very fast,” Perez said. “Suddenly, the train approached a cable that was hanging low in a rail yard, and it hit him in the neck, and he fell onto the tracks.”

Perez said what happened next was gruesome.

“The train chopped off his legs, and he was left to die.”

Perez and his group made the long journey from Venezuela to Mexico primarily by foot using a coyote, or human smuggler, as a guide. Once they arrived in Mexico illegally, they chose to use the train because they had no money.

“It is dangerous, but it is the easiest way to move if you are pobre [poor],” he said.

Perez and his group left the train at a rail yard in Guadalajara when it slowed down enough to jump off.

“We needed some time to pray and rest.”

Another migrant from Guatemala also had a dangerous experience on La Bestia.

“We were stopped at a rail yard, and these men came up to the train with rifles; they were not from the government,” Josue Haro told The Epoch Times. “They grabbed me and some others and threw us off the train, then beat us up and took all of our things.

“They threatened to kill us,” he said.

Haro said he also witnessed a woman being raped on the train before they arrived in Guadalajara in the middle of the night.

“At night is the most dangerous time, but that is when it is easiest to catch the train because it slows down.”

Migrants riding La Bestia aren’t even safe from train conductors. They sometimes demand bribes, particularly from women and families with children who want to board before the train starts moving.

Response From the Mexican Government

In response to the atrocities on La Bestia, the Mexican government has had to juggle several things at once: improving border enforcement and increasing domestic security while protecting human rights.

So far, Mexico’s response has been to develop more checkpoints and deploy more law enforcement in an effort to remove migrants from the rail lines.

“More and more, we’ve seen Mexican authorities taking a significantly stronger approach to controlling many of the locations where the train would start, or the train would end,” said Ruiz-Soto. “There is more significant control now than there has ever been of Mexican authorities trying to obtain migrants on those trains.”

Private companies that control the La Bestia network of trains have tried an alternative approach to reduce the number of migrants that use them, by speeding up the train, so that migrants will not be able to jump onto them.

A combination of efforts by the government and the private sector have reduced ridership to some degree on La Bestia, with many opting to avoid the danger of “the train of death” and utilize human smugglers and major highways to get to the U.S. border instead.

“The railroad and the La Bestia network of trains is actually a fraction of the total volume of migration … most people travel with smugglers, and they do it on the highways, and they do it on the coast,” said Ruiz-Soto.