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At least 39 people have died in a fire at an immigration center along the US-Mexico border, officials said Tuesday.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said authorities said some of the migrants who had been sheltered at the center “after we thought they knew they would be deported” at the protest. It is believed that the fire was caused by
At a press conference Tuesday morning, Lopez Obrador said that according to initial reports, migrants fearing deportation placed small mattresses on the door of the shelter and set it on fire “in protest”. “They never imagined this would cause this misfortune.”
A fire broke out at an immigration center run by the National Institute of Migration in Ciudad Juárez just after 9 p.m. Monday night, officials said in a statement.
Dozens more were injured and 29 were taken to four hospitals in “delicate to critical condition,” the agency said, adding that 68 men from Central and South America, most of them from Venezuela. He added that he was from the city and was in an institution at the time. fire.
Francisco Garduño Yáñez, commissioner of the National Institute of Migration, is visiting a local hospital where injured migrants were taken “to check their health,” the agency said. Tweet.
López Obrador said authorities still do not know the name and exact nationality of the deceased.
Images showed rows of corpses lined up under silver sheets as rescuers, firefighters and police responded to the scene.
The National Institute for Migration did not immediately disclose the cause of the fire, but said the agency “strongly rejects the actions that led to this tragedy,” but did not elaborate on what they were.
Authorities are investigating and the government’s National Human Rights Commission has been summoned to assist the migrants, he said.
This property is located in Chihuahua, near the Santa Fe International Bridge and across the border with El Paso, Texas.
The country’s prosecutor general has launched an investigation, Andrea Chavez, deputy federal secretary for Ciudad Juárez, said in a Facebook statement. A consular team is also working to identify the deceased, officials said.
Mexican officials did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.
Ciudad Juarez is a major crossing point for immigrants seeking to travel across the border to the United States.
Its shelters are filled with migrants awaiting an opportunity to cross the border or awaiting the asylum process.
In recent years, under pressure from Washington, the National Institute of Migration has struggled with overcrowding inside its facilities as Mexico stepped up efforts to stem the flow of migrants to the U.S. border.
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