He Lost Everything Trying to Reach the U.S. – and Still Has 1,000 Miles to Go

We’ve heard the horror stories of crossing the border from Mexico. But one migrant’s time dodging gangsters and riding atop freight trains reveals the perilous journey thousands take just to make it through Mexico.

Illustrations by Vinnie Neuberg

Twenty-three-year old Nelson stands in the middle of the kitchen at a shelter for migrants in the Western-Mexican city of Guadalajara. He’s wearing baggy blue jeans and a forest-green hoodie. The bottom half of his head is shaved and the top is pulled back into a ponytail. As he shreds chicken, he jokes with the ladies, “My country may have its problems, but let it be known that Salvadoran men are masters in the art of cooking!” Everybody laughs. On the menu tonight is chicken stew, and rice and beans. Soon the men at the shelter will gather for this hearty meal before retiring for some much-needed sleep. Some will get up early in the morning and continue their journey north, but Nelson says he is not going anywhere just yet.

Nelson, whose name has been changed here so he could speak freely about his migration experience, arrived in Guadalajara in the middle of the night a few weeks ago. He was penniless, shoeless, exhausted, and hungry after a month of t…