“…They then attempt to make the 2655 km journey to the Mexico-U.S. border on foot and on the tops of freight trains, stopping at migrant shelters for respite along the way (Basok and Rojas Wiesner, 2018;Candiz and Bélanger, 2018). Although Mexican authorities frame migration policies as protecting migrants by keeping them off of freight trains not designed for passengers and fighting criminal groups that violate migrant rights, in practice the policies have used U.S. assistance to advance migration control and management in the region (Marchand, 2017;Olayo-Mendez, 2018;Rojas Wiesner and Basok, 2020;Wilson-Forsberg and Parra, 2022). With migration controls becoming increasingly more strict and harsh over the past few years, people are attempting to move through longer, more dangerous routes increasing their vulnerability to exploitation and violence (Brigden, 2018;Canales Cerón and Rojas Wiesner, 2018).…”