A deadly fire broke out at a migration facility in Mexico.
The victims of a fire inside a Mexican migrant detention center Monday night were trapped behind padlocked doors at an overcrowded jail that filled with smoke as they fruitlessly yelled for help. At least 38 people had died due to a fire inside Estancia Provisional de Ciudad Juárez, where they were detained. Authorities have said at least 68 people were killed and injured in the facility. In addition, about a dozen women had been detained at the facility right before the fire broke out.
Human and immigration rights advocates said that while they were horrified by the deaths, they were not surprised that such a tragedy occurred in one of Mexico’s detention facilities.
Mexico’s Supreme Court declared some of the country’s immigration laws regarding detention to be unconstitutional on March 15, which Kuhner said was a victory after various groups have been working since the year 2000 to shut the country’s detention centers down.
“This is a huge issue in Mexico that civil society organizations are not allowed in migration stations, and it’s very difficult for people that are not authorized by the INM to enter into these facilities, which means they’re kind of black boxes,” Schmidtke said.
