Taking a ride on a freight train to cover migration to the U.S.

By Noah Caldwell,

Scott Detrow, Eyder Peralta

Published March 1, 2025 at 5:36 PM EST

In this series, NPR takes readers and listeners behind the news and explains how we do our journalism. Here, Eyder Peralta transports us to Mexico for this week's Reporter's Notebook.

For decades, migrants have been riding north through Mexico aboard a freight train nicknamed "La Bestia." An NPR reporter hopped on board to ask some migrants why they do it.

Tags

NPR National News

Noah Caldwell

Scott Detrow

Scott Detrow is the weekend host of All Things Considered, and a co-host of the Consider This podcast. In this role Detrow contributes to the weekday All Things Considered broadcasts, and regularly hosts NPR's live special coverage of major news stories.

Eyder Peralta

Eyder Peralta is an international correspondent for NPR. He was named NPR's Mexico City correspondent in 2022. Before that, he was based in Cape Town, South Africa. He started his journalism career as a pop music critic and after a few newspaper stints, he joined NPR in 2008.