Train to El Norte - Flight.Migrants from Central America flee as they are pursued by two men, possibly Federal Police, complete with shotguns, while the migrants were waiting to jump the freight town going towards the town of Ixtapec, Oaxaca, Mexico from the town of Arriaga, in Chiapas, Mexico on Saturday July 1, 2006. The men grabbed a woman, Maria Isabel Velasquez, 29, of Guatemala, by the hair and hit her on the chin but then ran when migrants shouted that there was a camera there. A...
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Train to El Norte - Flight.Migrants from Central America flee as they are pursued by two men, possibly Federal Police, complete with shotguns, while the migrants were waiting to jump the freight town going towards the town of Ixtapec, Oaxaca, Mexico from the town of Arriaga, in Chiapas, Mexico on Saturday July 1, 2006. The men grabbed a woman, Maria Isabel Velasquez, 29, of Guatemala, by the hair and hit her on the chin but then ran when migrants shouted that there was a camera there. A police officer who refused to be named said that often robbers will dress as police to extort money from migrants, while the migrants said it is the police themselves who abuse their power. "He wanted money," said a shaking Velasquez, "or he'd report me to migration." Poor migrants including women and children who don't have money to hire a coyote will often ride the train where they face dangers ranging from theft and rape to mutilation or death if they fall from the train.
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