PUEBLA – In a tragic turn of events, as many as 39 people were burnt alive after a fire broke out in an immigration detention facility in northern Mexico near the United States border.
The blaze occurred late Monday at a facility in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas and left 29 people injured as well in what is believed to be the deadliest fire at an immigration lockup in the country’s history.
Mexico’s National Immigration Institute said in a statement that the facility was holding 68 adult men from Central and South America. Inquiry has been launched into the incident as what caused the fire that took so many lives and it is believed that the fire broke out at the place holding men only.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador claimed that the fire erupted during a protest by the migrants inside the facility as they feared deportation.
“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,” Lopez Obrador told newsmen.
On the other hand, the national immigration agency said it “energetically rejects the actions that led to this tragedy”, without any further explanation of what those actions might have been..
Although the identities of the dead have yet to be revealed officially, Guatemala said that 28 of its nationals are believed to have died in the incident.
Tensions have been running high in the area regarding immigration and Ciudad Juarez is a major crossing point for migrants trying to get into the United States. Its shelters house scores of people seeking opportunities to cross or those who are waiting for the asylum process.
At one end, Mexico is dealing immigrants with an iron fist probably on the demands of Washington but on the other end, its National Immigration Institute is facing challenges to house the applicants in its facilities.
The latest incident has sent shockwaves across the country, initiating fresh debate on the nature of facilities offered to the immigrants and the safety precautions taken in this regard.
