Dozens dead after migrants start fire at Mexico detention centre
- Migrants at the Mexican immigration facility were believed to have started the fire because they feared they would be deported
- The fire, one of the deadliest migrant tragedies in years, occurred as the US and Mexico battle record levels of border crossings
A fire believed to have been started by migrants protesting against their deportation killed at least 38 people at a Mexican immigration detention centre near the US border, authorities said Tuesday, prompting demands for justice.
The blaze broke out late Monday at the National Migration Institute (INM) facility in Ciudad Juarez, prompting the mobilisation of firefighters and dozens of ambulances.
The migrants were believed to have lit the fire as a demonstration because they feared 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.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi expressed solidarity with relatives of the victims and appealed to countries in the region “to deal in a humane, just, effective manner with growing population flows through the Americas”.
Anger grew outside the detention facility, with relatives chanting demands for justice near a makeshift shrine dedicated to the victims.