Maxico:Blaze kills at least 40 people at migrant detention center

In Maxico, at least 40 people were killed after a fire broke out in an immigration detention facility at Ciudad Juarez city near the US border on Tuesday, March 28. Mexico’s National Immigration Institute in a statement said the injured people were taken to hospitals. It said, the facility was holding 68 adult men from Central and South America. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Mexico’s attorney general’s office has launched an inquiry. Authorities said it broke out after they picked up and detained a group of migrants from the streets of the border city, which sits across from El Paso, Texas.  At least 28 Guatemalan nationals were among the dead, Guatemala’s Institute of Migration confirmed.

The blaze was one of the worst in recent years in Mexico, which has seen record levels of crossings on its northern border, as people try to make it into the US. Migrant numbers at the US-Mexico border have been on the rise since last year,with increasing numbers of people from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Colombia, many fleeing repressive government and stark economic pressures. Migrants often wait for weeks or months in Mexico to present their case at a port of entry. In the meantime, many sleep rough in the streets, begging for change to survive. The International Rescue Committee said that the fire was proof of the pressing need to ensure systems are in place to provide safety for people in need of international protection.