Reports: Dozens dead in fire at migrant facility in Mexico
MEXICO CITY (AP) — At least three dozen migrants died in a fire at an immigration detention center in northern Mexico near the U.S. border, according to a newspaper report.
The Diario de Juarez newspaper, which citied unnamed sources in the Chihuahua state prosecutor’s office, said the fire happened late Monday at a facility in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas.
Neither Mexico’s National Immigration Institute nor the Chihuahua state prosecutor’s office responded immediately Tuesday to requests for confirmation.
Ciudad Juarez is a major crossing point for migrants entering the United States. Its shelters are full of migrants waiting for opportunities to cross or who have requested asylum in the United States and are waiting out the process.
Images from the scene showed ambulances, firefighters and vans from the morgue around the facility. Injured people have been taken to four hospitals, according to Diario de Juarez.
Mexico’s attorney general’s office has launched a inquiry and has investigators at the scene, according to media reports.