Met videoAt the major fire in a detention center of the Mexican immigration service in Ciudad Juárez, guards are said to have seen the fire, but did not free the migrants from their cells. That can be seen on a video. At least 38 people were killed on Monday and dozens more were injured.
Marlies van Leeuwen
Latest update:
09:11
A video shared on social media, apparently from a security camera inside the complex, shows a cell filling with smoke as men kick desperately against the bars of a locked door. In the 30-second video, three people in what appear to be official uniforms walk by but make no attempt to open the door. By the end of the video, the smoke is so thick that the cell can no longer be seen.
The Mexican interior minister confirmed in an interview to local media that the video is real and that the authorities got hold of it shortly after the incident, but did not elaborate on the content. Alejandra Corona, a Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) representative who visits the facility once a week to monitor conditions, says the video shows the men’s cell. The door the men kicked into was the only way out, she said. The Mexican National Migration Institute (INM), which manages the center, has not yet responded.
Mattresses set on fire
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says authorities say the fire broke out around 9:30 p.m. local time, when some migrants set fire to mattresses in protest after learning they were about to be deported. He gave no details on how so many people died in the incident. “They didn’t think this would cause this terrible tragedy,” Lopez Obrador told a press conference Tuesday night. Most migrants came from Central America and Venezuela. There would have been 68 people in the center at the time of the fire.
It is one of the deadliest fires in years for Mexico, which, along with the US, is grappling with an increasing number of migrants traveling north. The shelter is located in Ciudad Juárez, the largest city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The city borders the American city of El Paso in the state of Texas. Many migrants are stranded in border towns trying to reach the US. Under new rules, they must apply for asylum before crossing the border. If they fail to do so and still cross the border, they will no longer be eligible for asylum status.
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