THE JOURNEY
CROSSING INTO MEXICO

The only real way into Mexico is to cross the Suchiate River. Hardly anyone uses the international bridge and the official border. It's the first real obstacle on the trip North. Many who try to cross are swept away by the current and drowned.

Helping migrants cross the river is a small industry in this border town. There are lots of ferrymen who will take people across on an inner tube raft for a couple of pesos. But the banks on both sides are patrolled by the police.

THE JOURNEY
RIDING THE RAILS

Quique and his friends now needed a train. At least one a day goes north on the Chaipas/Myab line into Mexico City from Tapachula. The engines are old and slow which means the trains don't travel very fast. But it's still the most dangerous railway in the world.

Ed Palmer says kids will have to take several trains and ride for weeks before they reach the U.S.

Ed Palmer, an American runs the railroad. He says that every time the train leaves the station some 200 people - and as many as 700 hundred - try to get on board.

Ed Palmer: When the train leaves, it's a free for all. People come running out of shadows. It looks simple but it's extremely dangerous to jump on a train. And as the train picks up speed, people get more frantic because they want to get on the train. They come running out of banana fields in the dark and trip over the ties and railway materials. I could not think of a more dangerous way to travel.

READ AN EDITED INTERVIEW WITH ED PALMER

People lose their limbs - and their lives on a regular basis. In the past 10 years the Good Shepherd shelter in Tapachula has treated 5000 people who've been crippled by trains.

Martinez is one of the thousands of young boys crippled by riding the rails.

A train took Matinez Hernandez' legs and put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Instead of helping his family from the U.S. - now they are supporting him.

Mother: It's very difficult for a mother to see her son in this condition. I have faith that he will be able to get around the house. Maybe God will make him walk again.

Accidents happen so often that most of the time the railway's employees don't even know about them. They have tried to wire box car doors shut to discourage people from riding in them, but the migrants hammer the doors open with rocks once the workers have moved on to the next car.

Ed Palmer: It rains and the rain makes things much more slippery and extremely dangerous. And we have a lot of accidents. It's always present in your mind when you see a guy walking around here on crutches. But these guys are chasing their dreams so they'll do anything to reach it. The only thing you can do it try to warn these people about the dangers of what they are doing.

Eber tried to hop aboard a moving train a couple of years ago in the rain. He slipped and was almost pulled under. But it didn't stop him from trying again.

Experienced riders know that the safest place to ride is on top.

Based on past experience Quique and his friends chose to ride on one of the open hopper cars. The train will be stopped many times on the road ahead as police look to round up migrants. On top of the hopper car they had a good view and a chance to escape when the cops finally arrived.

Inexperienced first-timers ride in the box cars so they can stay nice and dry. But it's a lousy hiding place, because the police always search box cars first. Migrants found there are the first to be jailed and put on a bus back home.

Often the kids come right back to try it again. Some try a dozen times before they either give up and go home or finally succeed in reaching the U.S.

The Mexican government used to turn a blind eye the travellers knowing that the kids were just passing through on their way to the U.S. But Washington put pressure on Mexico to shut the pipeline down. Sending a Central American home from Mexico costs $22 instead of $1700 from the U.S.

The Mexican army says their program is effective.

The Mexican police and army were given a free hand to do whatever they had to. According to hundreds of eye witness reports kids are routinely beaten and robbed. Chacon saw soldiers enter the train firing their AK 47's.

The raids are highly effective. According to the Mexican army 90% of people riding the rails are eventually caught and arrested.

When the train slowed down, Quique and his friends hoped off into the confusion.

THE JOURNEY
ENCOUNTERING THE GANGS

Quique and his friends evaded the police. But ahead was the biggest danger so far. Southern Mexico is the territory of the Mara Salvatrucha - the most feared gang in Latin American.

The Mara Salvatrucha's core is former members of the Salvadoran army who had been deported from Los Angeles and other American cities. They learned about 'gang culture' there and had frequent disputes with the popular L.A. gang, the Crips.

They're identified by the tattoos on their heads, necks and arms which often have the number 13 or 18 or the letters MS. They've now become a huge gang with more than a quarter of a million members across North and Central America.

The Mara Salvatrucha learned about gang culture in Los Angeles.

The Mara Salvatrucha in southern Mexico see the trains as their turf. They are 'migrant hunters' and lie in wait as the kids jump off the slow moving trains as they reach a checkpoint. The illegals make ideal victims because they're unlikely to press charges.

Eyewitnesses say they're well armed with machetes and
uzis. There have been incidents where the Mara have hacked migrants to death for resisting robbery. It's hard to estimate just how many migrants have been killed this way.

On one trip Chacon witnessed some of the violence firsthand. He saw one gang member cut the hand off of an old man who didn't have any money.

Women who ride the train take a huge risk as no one can protect them against gang members with guns. Gang rape is an everyday occurrence. Chacon watched as a young girl was cruelly thrown off the train when she resisted rape.

See a timeline of the journey towards 'el norte.>

Chacon: They did it without remorse - like they were throwing an old rag or trash can. To feel that moment - how the girl was screaming a scream of agony while dying through the air. There was no hope for her. Only to be scattered on the rocks and the river.

When Quique and his friends finally arrived in Tonala, a town in southern Mexico, they were not very happy. They'd managed to evade the police but not the Mara Salvatrucha.

Quique: They came with machetes, saying we are the Mara Salvatrucha. They robbed all of us - about 35 people. All of the money I had to eat.

When the boys left they had $100, now they have nothing. They can't buy anything to eat - and worse - if they get caught again they'd have nothing with which to bargain for their freedom.

Quique warns the cameraman that it is very dangerous on the train.

Quique warned the fifth estate cameraman that the camera was attracting too much attention. (read more about this incident in the filmmaker's notes)

Quique: Don't get on the train. Those rats have machetes - they will take you camera and throw you from the train.

He and his friends quickly jumped on the next train north - heading straight for Mexico City.

THE JOURNEY
THE FOOD GIVERS

With over 3200 kilometres to go the road to 'el norte' was looking grim.

Quique and his friends on the train.

Quique, Daniel, Eber and Chacon were still together but they'd lost the four friends they were traveling with. Quique was clear that he didn't intend to wait for anyone.

They didn't have any money and they weren't even able to beg for food. It's against the law in Mexico for anyone to offer help to the migrants no matter how desperately they need it.

But ordinary people with big hearts came to the rescue. Groups of poor villagers from the state of Veracruz take time out every day to share what food they have.

Dozens of people, mostly women and children ran out of their houses clutching small parcels. They smiled, shouted and threw food up to the hungry kids riding the train.

Waiting to give food the migrants traveling north on the train.

Food Giver: We see them falling asleep on the trains. They're hungry and they shout - water, water. They hope to earn a few more cents to send home. May God be with them and may they reach their goal.

Every so often the train driver slows down a little bit - just so the food reaches it's target.

Food Giver: A lady in Orizaba was caught and charged 10,000 pesos for helping them. If they catch us, how will we pay 10,000 pesos for our release?

Still the villagers continue to share the food - in defiance of the law.

Exhausted the boys arrive at a train station near Mexico City.

It's a brief glimpse of kindness and soon Quique and his friends were riding towards Mexico City. After 10 long days they were finally nearing their stop.

Exhausted they found a place to sleep next to a train station. Assuming they were finally safe, no one stayed awake to keep watch.

It was a big mistake. The police arrived.

Quique: They pointed their guns and said 'nobody move'. They took us to that station.

THE JOURNEY
ARREST IN MEXICO

The Mexican government says that everyone who is arrested in Mexico will be deported.

The Mexican authorities arrests thousands of teenage kids every week .

The deportation centre in southern Mexico looks like a bus station. It holds hundreds of young people who outsmarted the police. Then their luck ran out.

It appears that the government crackdown is working. By some accounts 95% of migrants are now being caught.

Sonya Nazario is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with the Los Angles Times who's written a series of articles about Central American youth who travel North in search of a better life. (read her articles)

Sonya Nazario: In Honduras the poverty is just so incredibly grinding, mothers talk about feeding their children sugar water for dinner. People are willing to do a lot to leave that kind of poverty. (read more about poverty in Central America)

Many of the people arrested by Mexican police are under age. They are travelling by themselves and taking an enormous risk.

All of the youngsters on this bus told Jorge Flores that they planned on trying again.

Sonya Nazario: It is the heart of darkness. They are robbed repeatedly. They're beaten up. Women and girls are often gang raped by bandits and gangsters. They don't want to go back defeated to their home country.

Journalist Jorge Flores found out that most of the youngsters who are deported will keep on trying until they succeed.

But, despite the official line, it is possible to avoid deportation. Most migrants with a little bit of money can bribe their way out of jail. Many Mexican police are corrupt and see the immigrants as a way to make a little extra money.

Sonya Nazario: The immigration authorities would just line everybody up against the wall, put them down and take all their money. Sometimes, they'll even take their clothes or shoes. It's just standard operating practice.

There is now an effort by the Mexican government to professionalize the police and immigration authorities. Bribery is how Quique and his friends avoided the deportation centre.

Quique: They were going to turn us over and send us back but we begged and begged.

He was arrested along with ten others. Quique and his friend had been robbed days earlier and didn't have a cent. But a 14 year old boy in his group had 100 pesos - about ten American dollars. It was enough.

Quique: They took the money and let us go. They gave us some medicine, mangoes and soda. They even stopped the train for us.

They were back on the road to 'el norte'.

THE JOURNEY
LOOKING FOR A COYOTE

As Quique and his friends headed north out of Mexico City, the trains got faster. But this time only three of them were on their way north.

Chacon, the father with six kids had been left behind. He was rushing to hop onto a train and was a few seconds too late. (Find out what happened to Chacon)

There are now only three left heading for 'el norte.'

Quique: As we jumped on the train accelerated so no one else could get on. Chacon was left behind saying 'what do I do now?' We kept on saying, 'don't give up, we'll meet up north.'

They reached Villa de Reyes, a town close to the American border. But they needed professional help - a coyote or smuggler - to get across. There were lots for hire - but the boys needed some money.

Sonya Nazario: So many migrants will call a relative in the U.S. and tell them, 'well I've made it all this way, surely you can somehow scrounge together the two thousand dollars that it takes to get me into Texas or into California.'

Quique, Eber and Daniel spend three weeks doing odd jobs in town to earn enough money for a place to stay and for phone cards so they could their relatives call for help.

L.A. journalist Sonya Nazario says relatives in the U.S. often have to come up with the money to pay for a coyote.'

After much begging and pleading Quique's relatives finally agreed to put up the money. Quique lined up a coyote that would take him all the way to Houston by truck for two thousand dollars. He would be paid when Quique was safely delivered into the U.S.

But Daniel wasn't included. Even though he made it all the way to the U.S. border there was no one to put up the money for him. (read what happened to Daniel)

Quique: The four of us left together from the same neighbourhood. When you go on the road with them, you become brothers. You share everything. It's hard to leave someone behind.

THE JOURNEY
CROSSING INTO THE U.S.

As they crossed into the U.S. Quique and Eber put their lives in the hands of a complete stranger.

Hundreds of people die each year in an attempt to cross the border. One coyote jammed almost one hundred migrants into an 18-wheeler. At $2000 a head, the load was worth almost a quarter of a million dollars.

Rick Aquirre says the U.S. Border patrol catches thousands of illegal immigrants each year.

The U.S. border patrol has permanent checkpoints on all the highways leading north from the Mexican border. They do thousands of searches every week looking for illegal immigrants.

The driver said he was taking an empty load to Houston and was waved through the checkpoint.

But inside the truck the immigrants were panicking. There was no ventilation and people were slowly suffocating. The driver didn't hear the screaming and kept on going.

Nineteen people including a five year-old boy, died inside the truck. It was the deadliest case of illegal immigrant smuggling ever. (read a news story about it)

Matias Flores, from Honduras survived the ordeal and says that coyotes can't be trusted.

Matias Flores survived in a truck where 17 of other travelling companions suffocated to death.

Matias Flores: They lie to us and they don't tell us about the risks. For them it's like selling a product. They make a business out of our lives. I would never do it again.

This tragedy happened just days before Quique and his friends arrived in Mexico.

Quique: The news was scary, but I was determined to make the trip and didn't think twice.

The security at the American border is tight. The U.S. spends $1.2 billion-a-year and has 9000 people committed to holding back the tide of illegal immigrants. Rick Aquirre, is the border patrol agent in change of one sector.

Rick Aquirre: The smuggler will do everything he can to avoid border patrol. If that means walking 15 miles off a paved roadway he will do it. And if somebody dies, that's the price of doing business.

But Quique and Eber weren't worried. In the middle of the night, a group of 11 migrants quietly made their way across the Rio Grande river on inner tubes into the U.S.

But the truck that was supposed to meet them on the other side was nowhere to be seen. So the group set off on foot into the desert without food or water. Then the coyote's cell phone died.

Rick Aquirre: Everything here in the south bites - scorpions, snakes, tarantulas and cactus. There are 101, 102 degree temperatures. Whatever water you have take it with you, because there is no water out there. As of today we have 38 deaths in this sector.

Hundreds of immigrants die of dehydration after having reached the U.S.

The desert is a hot, dangerous place - especially for people who are unprepared. Thousands of illegal immigrants have died because of dehydration or heat stroke. Many of the bodies are never identified.

Three days passed before journalist Jorge Flores got a phone call from Quique.

Quique: We almost died. We were three days without food. We couldn't take it we were going to turn ourselves in.

Once again Quique encountered a miracle. The group found a hunter's lodge. They helped themselves to some food - mostly bread and ketchup - and charged the coyote's cell phone. Then a pickup truck came for them.

They passed the checkpoints and after six weeks and 5000 kilometres - they made it to the promised land. But the journey still wasn't over.