Who are some of the upstanders in Chapter 4, and what lessons can you learn from their actions and choices that you can apply to your own life?

Unlike the people of Chiapas, those of Veracruz and Oaxaca are friendly toward migrants. They shout to signal if police are nearby, giving the migrants time to react. Women and children run along the sides of the train with small bundles, which they throw up as gifts. Enrique receives several loaves of bread from woman and a boy. He is overwhelmed by their generosity.

In fact, residents of Veracruz are known for their kindness. One migrant says, “We could never keep going forward without people like this” (104-105). Although poor themselves, the townspeople give sweaters, clothes, bread, water, lemonade, and more to the migrants as they pass on the trains. Marìa Luisa Mora Martin is over a hundred years old, but she and her daughter regularly throw bags of food and supplies to migrants.

Individual citizens also offer protection to migrants. Some residents offer migrants protection from the police by allowing them to stay in their homes or hide in their gardens and backyards. The police have threatened to arrest church members who aid the migrants; some have even been charged and released only after paying thousands of pesos. Though the police respect the sanctuary of church grounds, individual citizens are liable to smuggling charges for housing migrants.

Whole communities have stood up to police abuses. Nazario tells of an incident in 2000 when drunk police shot at migrants who had left the train, sending them fleeing into the hills. In the chase, a young, pregnant woman was shot in the arm. The police chased her up the mountain, where he beat and kicked her until she collapsed. The townspeople then confronted the police, and chased them away. Afterwards, a local man was found dead, presumably having been shot in the confusion. The next day, five hundred residents of different towns marched to city hall in Nogales to demand retribution for the man's death, and the release of any migrants arrested in the raid. Eight police officers were fired over the incident.