At least 37 migrants have died in a fire at a delegation from the Mexican National Institute of Migration (INM) in Ciudad Juárez, on the border between Mexico and the United States, several sources reported to EFE news agency on Tuesday.
In the fire zone, near the Rio Grande, in the area that separates Mexico and the United States, the EFE agency was able to check dozens of bags containing the bodies of the dead migrants.
Mexican authorities have not yet issued an official statement on the incident, but Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is expected to speak about the matter at a press conference today.
Dozens of migrants, the majority from Venezuela, were detained at the INM delegation, located on the Stanton-Lerdo International Bridge, which connects Ciudad Juárez to El Paso, Texas.
The origin of the fire is still unknown, but witnesses told local media that the fire started in the area where the migrants were being held and some of them were trapped there.
Before the fire, several INM agents had carried out an operation to remove migrants begging on the street.
The presence of migrants in the area has increased this year since the United States announced new measures, including the immediate deportation of migrants from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.
The region is experiencing a record migratory flow, with 2.76 million illegal migrants detained at the United States-Mexico border in 2022, and according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the migratory flow in the Mexican territory is .
Source: DN
