Riding 'The Death Train' to America's border

each year half a million people are caught crossing the southern US border illegally so Donald Trump's administration promised a crackdown I have put in place a zero tolerance policy if you cross the border unlawfully then we will prosecute you in the month that followed hundreds of parents were deported without the children but the outcry forced embarrassing turn around word of trumps change of hearts spread quickly to Central America this is the story of two women one traveling through Mexico bound for the u.s. desperate to find a safe life with her children the other has already made the journey but was deported back to Guatemala without her daughters and is now fighting simply to bring them both home [Music] it's the cheapest ticket to the United States a network of Mexican cargo trains whose extra load are all chasing an American dream for those with no money this is the only choice 20 year-old dunya is from Honduras she's six months pregnant and he's traveling with her four-year-old son while her husband Marlon keeps watch back home they say local gangs fight to kill them when they took over their neighborhood soon after the news came that Donald Trump was no longer separating parents from the children at the US border so they decided it was time to head north we joined them in southern Mexico as they began their dangerous stop-start journey we don't know what happened sometimes immigration stops the training sometimes also the Mexican cartels who charge a fee to the migrants it's well-known they make millions out of it this time was a false alarm and the train started up again they still have over a thousand miles to travel the Train carried dunya and her family as far as Chiapas southern Mexico to reach the US border they would have to catch at least five more they left them to us okay a week ago merely at is lambda min who head and but I saw the movie de todo de la Vida nasteria what no someone handing money so mu man lieutenant a look at the distance here case on Monday if a dentist by easy it's almost 4:00 a.m. but la bestia or the Beast as it's known has no timetable so no one wants to miss it all these people are going to applause to the United States they're running away from poverty and violence in Central America entire families here children as young as three they have slept just two hours [Music] which are here they must pour the Beast while it's moving but is going too fast for them to jump on [Applause] look with no money this young family has no choice but to walk ten hours to a migrant shelter in the next town and temples are framed the shelter is over fifty miles away dunya is worried she may not make it Rikki was a welcoming her todoke defined that we have only the trucks as a guide we joined them for the walk a punishing day in 35-degree heat but 13 hours later all finally made it fans halle-loo charm after days on the road these refuge provides a rare moment of calm and for dunya and her family it's the first hot meal in a long time he's also a rather safe place for young women making this journey alone everyone here is heading for the US but they are still not even halfway there it's a two-hour bus Pelletier of London almost 300 miles south in Guatemala City others who have already made this dangerous journey now find themselves back where they started up to five planes land here every day from the US current [Music] [Music] most here don't feel very lucky this year trump zero tolerance policy deported hundreds of parents back to Central America without the children in June he signed an executive order to end it but most families are still waiting to be reunited Gradius was one of them she also wrote la bestia to reach the United States but was picked up for crossing the US border illegally then deported back to Guatemala and nine months ago without her two daughters yes there was a siendo Gracie and Jennifer just three and five years old yes that's me they are being held in a detention center in Texas lately the Trump administration says parents like Gradius knew the risks kumar's tell me after she was deported she didn't speak to her children for two months now she gets one phone call a week she says both girls have grown increasingly distant I said could they meet at the gate open that home I've usually been taking food to be her Greta's has no idea if she will ever see her daughter's again back in Mexico dunja and her family are now just 500 miles from the US border and are ready to catch their next train Marlin jumps from the first carriage to ask the driver to stop living dunya alone with Milan Junior her husband's plan doesn't seem to be working so a kind stranger helps her son onto the train but it's still moving too fast for dunya after dunya chases the train for 10 minutes it finally stops confused and terrified we tried to help dunya find her husband with no sign of him she finds space when he turns up the cosmogony commander in Baja me for another pair it's been a long morning but the family have to keep going the train crosses into Tabasco State during her husband haven't spoken all day as the light fades a moment of night and humanity while the faithful appeal for salvation paralegal ability to stand up with [Music] like dunya Grady's also wanted her children to grow up in the u.s. instead of hearing Guatemala now she just wants them to come home so she's come to the capital to push her government for answers sweet potato so meiosis a my medicine supreme miss appeared on the news - you're eatin business Taniya in Texas in already sheriff puedo hablar con alguien que case episode edema or so red castle tapas nadie me put in there so Reza team muchas gracias she has few options but to wait Serafima todos los papeles todo estaba en inglis Yo no puede no se habla English is única meant a meter on tape or Sarah para que para mi deportation ya después Meegeren que que no podía pedi rasul'allah nada que no se pardon is Nina's yo pregunta sia via alguna forma de de de que eso no pisarra de que no era posible que me say para and a pero me here on que no por que era yo tenía quiero subir on castigo the US government has begun to reunite families but only recently admitted that almost 500 people were deported without their children gray this is just one of them Monterrey is only two hours from the US border after six weeks travelling doing here on my land have made it to northern Mexico do any on her son will hand themselves over to US authorities at the border and pray they won't be separated now almost eight months pregnant Dounia and Marlin junior will apply for asylum and think they have more chance if they go along you a few weeks ago during his brother was picked up by Mexican authorities trying to make the same journey they deported him back to Honduras yesterday Doudna found out that he was murdered by the same gang who had threatened her you you you you you you you

Channel: Channel 4 News

Views: 3,140,519

Keywords: family separation, zero tolerance, border, immigration, channel 4 news, Guatemala immigration, mexico border, mexican border, us mexico border, mexico immigrant train, mexico train, explainer, trump administration, border detention, border detention centers, family separation border, death train, family separation deporattion, family separation immigration, immigration children, immigrant children, immigrant children in cages, immigrant children separated from parents

Id: RSwwO00qeB0

Length: 16min 58sec (1018 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 01 2018