CIUDAD JUAREZ – A fire started by migrants protesting against their expected deportation killed at least 39 people at a Mexican immigration detention center near the US border, authorities said yesterday.
The blaze broke out shortly before midnight at the National Migration Institute (NMI) facility in Ciudad Juarez, prompting the mobilization of firefighters and dozens of ambulances.
An AFP journalist saw forensic personnel remove a dozen bodies from the NMI’s parking lot, where several other bodies were laid and covered with blankets.
At least 39 immigrants were killed and 29 were injured, according to the NMI, which said the center housed 68 adult males from Central and South America.
The migrants started the blaze themselves during a demonstration after they found out that they would be deported, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.
“They put mats at the door of the shelter and set them on fire as a protest, and did not imagine that it would cause this terrible tragedy,” he told reporters.
Numerous migrants have been detained in the facility in recent days after local authorities rounded up street vendors, some of whom were foreigners, from the area. – AFP