The Beast: riding the rails and dodging narcos on the migrant trail

Abstract

Governments frequently insist on their desire to 'protect' the migrants and refugees who attempt to cross their borders from organised crime, people smuggling and trafficking for forced labour or sexual exploitation. But the drift towards 'hard' border enforcement over the last two decades has produced a proliferation of territorial spaces, where undocumented migrants are routinely exposed to the risk of death, physical injury and the most ruthless criminal exploitation, and where no government or institution makes any attempt to protect them or enforce even their most elementary human rights.The Sinai desert, where African migrants are kidnapped, ransomed or raped en route to Israel; the perilous trail that connects sub-Saharan Africa and Somalia to the North African coast; the bottleneck at the Morocco/Algerian border between Oujda and Magnia where migrants face robbery and rape -all these earthly hells are the direct consequence of the callous exclusionary border controls established by some of the wealthiest countries on earth to keep out men, women and children from some of the world's poorest. They have effectively placed migrants at the mercy of the bandits and opportunist robbers, organised criminal gangs, pimps, traffickers and corrupt cops, who prey on migrants precisely because they know that they are legally invisible.All governments insist that they do not want such things to happen -when they acknowledge them at all -but few, if any, are willing to do anything that might detract from the deterrent and punitive function that these extra-legal spaces serve, or which might leave them open to accusations of 'softness'. Of all the twenty-first century's migratory routes, few are more deadly and more horrific in their consequences than the journeys undertaken by Mexican and Central American migrants to reach the US/Mexico border.Every year some 250,000 migrants attempt to escape poverty and violence in Central America by crossing the Guatemalan border into Mexico, riding the rails towards the border towns in the north, and finding a guide or 'coyote' who can take them across the border. In the course of these journeys, migrants are routinely robbed and sometimes killed by 'professional' and 'amateur' criminals who stalk the Mexican migratory routes. In the last few years, there have been numerous stories of migrants forcibly recruited by drug cartels or as slave labourers, of mass graves containing dozens of bodies of those who refused or whose usefulness was exhausted.Female migrants who cross the border into Mexico -effectively the first tier of the US border itself -are likely to be raped as a routine rite of passage, to the point that many women regard their bodies as a 'cuerpomatic' -a form of credit card in which sex pays for the right to continue their journey or simply for the right to live. Many women end their journeys long before reaching the border. Some are snatched off trains, or kidnapped walking the dangerous trails of Chiapas to be tortured or killed, or taken off to brothels to work as s...

Immigration Protocols and Extralegal Demands: A Comparison Between the U.S.-Mexican Borderlands and South Africa

“…'Una vida mejor', looking for a better life, is a common saying among migrants aiming to come to the United States, reports journalist Óscar Martínez. In The Beast, Martínez follows various Central American migrants through Guatemala, Mexico and the U.S. describing the role of narcotraficantes (drug dealers), humanitarian workers, Mexican police, Mexican army, and Mexico's INM (Martínez, 2014). Central Americans have long migrated to the United States for various reasons.…”

“…As one immigrant shared with journalist Óscar Martínez 'the guy in charge of the migration unit told me that if I slept with him, he'd let me go' (Martínez, 2014(Martínez, , 2013. According to a Mexican National Commission of Human Rights report, 'it's not uncommon that a migration official abuses a woman in custody' (Martínez, 2014(Martínez, , 2013.…”

“…As one immigrant shared with journalist Óscar Martínez 'the guy in charge of the migration unit told me that if I slept with him, he'd let me go' (Martínez, 2014(Martínez, , 2013. According to a Mexican National Commission of Human Rights report, 'it's not uncommon that a migration official abuses a woman in custody' (Martínez, 2014(Martínez, , 2013. As a trafficking prosecutor explains, 'the National Institute of Migration often plays a leading role in preventing human trafficking victim testimonies from a getting a course hearing' (Martínez, 2014(Martínez, , 2013.…”

Le parcours du combattant

“…Documentaries, movies and books written by journalists, some of whom have undertaken the trip alongside migrants also report extensively on the dangers of travelling on the freight train (Amnesty International, 2010; Ó. Martínez, 2013;Ultreras & Solalinde, 2012). This network of railroads covers a large part of the Mexican territory, covering a total of 26,000 km (De González Argüelles Rosel, 2010, p. 55).…”

Adult Beliefs About the Migration Motives of Unaccompanied Honduran Youth

“…In the journey of more than 2,000 miles, unaccompanied Central American minors may travel different routes via multiple forms of transportation (Swanson & Torres, 2016). One of the most notorious modes is atop freight trains, which connect the borders of Guatemala and the United States (Isacson et al, 2014;Martinez, 2013;Villegas, 2014). Additionally, third parties, such as smugglers, may be involved in the arrival of so many unaccompanied youth on the United States border (Anastario et al, 2015;Brigden & Mainwaring, 2016;Lusk & Galindo, 2017;Quijada & Sierra, 2019;Swanson & Torres, 2016;Vogt, 2016).…”