Government Says Mexican Freight Trains Are Now Off-Limits to Central American Migrants Ian Gordon - Mother Jones
go to original July 13, 2014

On Thursday, a freight train derailed in southern Mexico. It wasn't just any train, though: It was La Bestia - "the Beast" - the infamous train many Central American immigrants ride through Mexico on their way to the United States. When the Beast went off the tracks last week, some 1,300 people who'd been riding on top were stranded in Oaxaca.

How do 1,300 people fit on a cargo train, you ask? By crowding on like this:



Central Americans on the Beast, June 20 (Rebecca Blackwell/AP)

After years of turning a blind eye to what's happening on La Bestia, the Mexican government claims it now will try to keep migrants off the trains. On Friday, Mexican Interior Secretary Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong said in a radio interview that the time had come to bring order to the rails. "We can't keep letting them put their lives in danger," he said. "It's our responsibility once in our territory. The Beast is for cargo, not passengers."

... In his radio interview, Osorio Chang also signaled a tougher stance against Central American migrants, in general. "Those who don't have a visa to move through our country," he said, "will be returned."

Read the rest at Mother Jones

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