Fire at Mexican immigration center near US border kills 39

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MEXICO CITY (London Post with AP) More than 30 migrants died in a dormitory fire at a Mexican immigration detention center near the US border, government agencies said Tuesday.

Lines of bodies line up under gleaming silver sheets outside the Ciudad Juárez facility across from El Paso, Texas, and the main border crossing for immigrants, hours after a fire broke out late Monday. was given. Ambulances, firefighters and morgue vans drove past the scene.

Thirty-nine people were killed and 29 injured, according to the National Institute of Migration. This was the deadliest incident at Mexican immigration in recent memory. Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire, and the state’s National Human Rights Commission has been called to assist migrants.

In Ciudad Juárez, where tensions between authorities and immigrants have appeared to have increased in recent weeks, shelters have been opened for those awaiting an opportunity to enter the United States or for those who have applied for asylum and are awaiting trial.

More than 30 migrant shelters and other advocacy groups issued an open letter to him on March 9, lamenting the criminalization of immigrants and asylum seekers in the city. She accused authorities of ill-treatment and excessive use of force in detaining immigrants, and complained that city police interrogated people on the streets without reason about their immigration status. High levels of dissatisfaction in Ciudad Juárez prompted hundreds of mostly Venezuelan migrants to be forced across one of the international bridges earlier this month, based on erroneous rumors that the United States would allow them to enter Venezuela. It became clear when I tried to enter the country. El Paso. US authorities blocked their attempt.

The National Immigration Service said Tuesday it “strongly denies the actions that led to this tragedy” and offered no further explanation as to what those actions were.

In recent years, under pressure from the U.S. government, the institution has struggled with overcrowding as Mexico stepped up efforts to stem the flow of migrants to the U.S. border. And the country’s immigration lockdown has seen protests and riots from time to time. In October migrants, mostly Venezuelans, rioted at an immigration center in Tijuana, which was under police and National Guard control. In November, dozens of migrants rioted at Mexico’s largest detention center in the southern city of Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala. No one died in either incident.