Photos: Enrique’s Journey | Chapter Three

Central American migrants headed for the United States ride in railroad cars through southern Mexico. A migrant knows that if he doesn’t run fast enough while grabbing on to a moving train, he can be jerked forward, lose his grip, and be pulled under the wheels.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

One migrant watches as another leaps from freight car to freight car during a train’s brief stop in Mapastepec.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Migrants flatten themselves to avoid being hit by tree branches as their freight train rolls through Chiapas in southern Mexico. Enrique learned several lessons about the train known to immigrants as “the beast.” Among them: Trust no one in authority, and never ride alone.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Santo Antonio Gamay, hoping to make it to Toronto, shows the fatigue and tension from 15 hours of riding a train. He has been arrested three times before and deported. In minutes, he will jump off to again try to outrun law enforcement officers.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Santo Antonio Gamay and others cling to the sides of freight cars as they prepare to jump.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Four Honduran immigrants run for cover after jumping from a train approaching a checkpoint in Tonala. They were later captured after residents tipped off authorities.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Agents with Grupo Beta Sur, the Mexican government’s migrant rights enforcement group, grab a suspect as he tries to flee in Chiapas state. Gabino Ochoa Revolorio, left, and Fernando Galvez Santiago found him on a road that is a favorite among bandits.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A Grupo Beta Sur agent stands watch on the Cuil bridge near the La Arrocera checkpoint. Bandits lie in wait near here, sometimes hiding in the trees or posing as fieldworkers.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Juan Joel de Jesus Villareal, 15, uses his T-shirt to filter water he scooped from a trackside puddle during a brief stop.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Twelve-year-old Denis Ivan Contreras sleeps on top of a tank car rolling north through Mexico’s Chiapas state. The Honduran boy was headed for San Diego, where he hoped to reunite with his mother. He was caught the next day and sent back to the Guatemalan border.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)