More than three dozen people are dead after a fire at a migrant detention center in Mexico, just across from the U.S. southern border.
According to officials, at least 39 people are dead and 29 others hospitalized after a fire broke out at a migration center in Ciudad Juarez run by the National Migration Institute (INM). The victims of the fire reportedly hailed from countries in Central and South America.
Those hospitalized are in “delicate-serious condition,” according to INM. INM also appeared to suggest that the fire was not an accident, saying that it “strongly rejects the acts that led to this tragedy.”
“With deep sadness and sorrow, we learned about the fire that happened inside the INM of Ciudad Juarez. We will wait for the official information and, from this moment, we convey our condolences to the families of the migrants,” said Andrea Chávez, federal deputy of Ciudad Juarez.
Chávez added that the attorney general’s office of Mexico would be investigating the fire, the cause of which has not yet been determined. Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission is aiding the survivors of the fire, which occurred just across from El Paso, Texas.
Many seeking entry into the U.S. come in at Ciudad Juarez, which is located in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
🚨BREAKING: A fire at the National Institute of Migration in Juarez leaves dozens of migrants dead.
According to some reports, more migrants were transported to local hospitals with serious injuries.@abc7breaking pic.twitter.com/gWipS0Q9La— Heriberto Pérez Lara (@HeriPerezKVIA) March 28, 2023
According to Dallas Morning News correspondent Alfredo Corchado, many of those who were staying at the facility were from Venezuela and had recently been taken in from the streets. Corchado added that a “mass number” of migrants had come to the border because of their expectation that Title 42 would end. Title 42 is a Trump-era health order that has allowed U.S. Border Patrol agents to turn away migrants at the border on the basis of public health.
Since taking office, Biden has overseen an unprecedented immigration crisis at the border. Illegal immigration has surged to an all-time high, and the administration fears that the numbers could increase further after Title 42 expires on May 11.
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Bringing back family detainment is one of the proposals officials have floated for tightening border security despite the administration’s previous position that the practice was inhumane and harmed illegal immigrant children. Officials have proposed limiting the time a family can be detained to two weeks, or setting no limits at all.