Most migrants taking La Bestia originate from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador along with fewer Nicaraguan immigrants. Most will gather in the towns of Tapachula, and Tenosique. From there migrants will find themselves in the state of Veracruz where they will chose a train that will take them to their prefered border crossing.
Honduran transgender immigrant Daniela, 20, at the Hermanos en el Camino immigrant shelter in Ixtepec, on August 5, 2013. She has been staying at the shelter for more than a month while Mexican immigration authorities process documents to allow her to travel to the U.S. border via bus, a much safer alternative than riding the freight trains north.
Honduran immigrant Jorge Vargas Aguilar, 18, spends a day at the Hermanos en el Camino immigrant shelter in Ixtepec, on August 5, 2013. He said he planned to ride a freight train north later that night to continue his journey to the U.S. border and eventually to San Francisco to find whatever work he can.
Guatemalan immigrant Jorge Enrique, 33, spends an evening at the Hermanos en el Camino immigrant shelter on August 5, 2013 in Ixtepec, Mexico. He said he planned to ride a freight train later that night to continue his journey north to eventually cross into the United States on his way to Tampa, where he had previously worked as a house painter.
Central American immigrants check a map of Mexico before boarding a freight train headed north on August 3, 2013 from Arriaga, Mexico.
Immigrants listen as Catholic Father Alejandro Solalinde Guerra warns them of the dangers in their journey to the United States, while at the Hermanos en el Camino (Brothers on the Road) shelter on August 4, 2013 in Ixtepec, Mexico. The shelter, founded by Solalinde in 2007, houses and feeds immigrants, mostly from Central America, during a stop on their train route through Mexico towards the U.S. border.
An anthropology student marks the spot where human bones of a suspected undocumented immigrant were found by the U.S. Border Patrol on a ranch on May 22, 2013 in Falfurrias, Brooks County, Texas. In Brooks County alone, at least 129 immigrants perished in 2012, most of dehydration while making the long crossing from Mexico. Teams from Baylor University and the University of Indianapolis are exhuming the bodies of more than 50 immigrants who died, mostly from heat exhaustion, while crossing illegally from Mexico into the United States. The bodies will be examined and cross checked with DNA sent from Mexico and Central American countries, with the goal of reuniting the remains with families.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent handcuffs an undocumented immigrant near the U.S.-Mexico border near Mission, Texas, on April 11, 2013. A group of 16 immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador said they crossed the Rio Grande River from Mexico into Texas during the morning hours before they were caught.
Glegario Ramiriz, 44, poses for a portrait as he serves time in Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arp aio's tent jail in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 11, 2013. Ramirez was arrested in Phoenix in November for drug possession. He said he had been living with his family in Phoenix and previously Los Angeles for a total of 34 years. As an undocumented immigrant with a criminal record, he may likely be deported to Mexico after his serving his sentence. President Obama's administration deported a record 1.5 million people during his first term of office. In 2012, 55 percent of deportees had criminal convictions for drug offenses or driving under the influence, according to U.S. immigration officials.
This map shows all ICE/Private prisons currently holding migrants.
An immigrant inmate exercises while another sits on his bunk at the Maricopa County Tent City jail on March 11, 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona. The striped uniforms and pink undergarments are standard issue at the facility, despite an ongoing court challenge. The tent jail, run by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, houses undocumented immigrants who are serving up to one year after being convicted of crime in the county. Although many of immigrants have lived in the U.S for years, often with families, most will be deported to Mexico after serving their sentences.
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/08/an-immigrants-journey/100573/
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/central-american-migrants-and-%E2%80%9Cla-bestia%E2%80%9D-route-dangers-and-government-responses
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2017/dec/13/mexico-central-american-migrants-la-bestia-pictures
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/homero-aridjis/migrants-train-of-death-america-_b_5568288.html