Borders of Separation

La Bestia and the Fragmentation of Migrant Families

Abstract

This paper examines how the US-Mexico border and its enforcement apparatus violently fracture transnational migrant families, using La Bestia—the notorious freight train traversing Mexico—, as a central symbol and entry point. Drawing on documentary film, legal scholarship, and migration literature, the paper argues that borders do not simply restrict movement but actively criminalize it, functioning as instruments of "legal violence" that separate families, endanger children, and perpetuate cycles of trauma and precarity. The paper first traces the structural roots of Central American displacement, including US foreign intervention and neoliberal economic reform, before analyzing how policies such as the Migrant Protection Protocols (Remain in Mexico) and Title 42 have institutionalized family separation. It concludes by calling for an immigration framework that recognizes migration as a fundamental right and reimagines borders as sites of connection rather than exclusion.