39 dead and 29 seriously injured: The death toll from a fire at a migrant detention center on the U.S.-Mexico border
Nearly 40 dead and 30 seriously injured: That’s the toll of a fire that broke out Monday in an immigration detention center in Mexico near the U.S. border.
The Mexican authorities who made the assessment were not yet able to give details on the nationality of the victims.
Thousands of migrants, including Haitians, are currently in Mexico hoping to obtain permission to cross into the United States.
The bodies of the victims were placed under sheets in front of the Ciudad Juarez center near the city of El Paso, Texas, according to the Associated Press.
According to the National Immigration Institute, the injured are in “delicate-serious” condition.
68 men from Central and South America were being held at the center, AP reported.
Authorities say they are opening an investigation to determine the cause of the tragedy.
Immigrant rights organizations have repeatedly raised the alarm about the conditions of detention at the border.
On March 9, an open letter was sent to U.S. and Mexican immigration officials denouncing the “criminalization of migrants and asylum seekers in the Mexican city” where the tragedy occurred. In this letter, the signatory organizations accuse the authorities of abuse and excessive use of force to contain the flow of migrants at the border between the United States and Mexico.
