39 Dead After Fire at Mexico Migrant Facility Near US Border

Mexican authorities claim that at least three dozen migrants died in a fire at an immigration detention facility near the U.S. border.

Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM), reported that 39 migrants were killed in an incident at the Ciudad Juarez detention center, in Chihuahua. The fire started just before 10 p.m. on Monday.

Images of the scene showed rows upon rows of bodies under silver sheets, just outside Ciudad Juarez’s facility, which is located across from El Paso in Texas. You could also see ambulances, firefighters, and vans from El Paso’s morgue.

INM reported that the facility was home to 68 men from Central America and South America. 29 of the 68 migrants sustained injuries in the fire and were taken to four local hospitals in critical to serious condition.

According to the agency, a complaint was filed with the appropriate authorities in order to start investigating the incident. The hearing was held by the Mexican National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), which was granted to participate in legal proceedings and protect foreign migrants.

INM stated that it will help in the legal investigations to “clarify these unfortunate facts.”

“The National Institute of Migration strongly condemns the acts which led to this tragedy,” said the agency, but did not specify what “acts” they were referring to.

Ciudad Juarez serves as a major point of entry for migrants trying to enter the United States. There are many migrants who are waiting to cross or have applied for asylum in the United States.

Diario de Juarez, a local newspaper, reported that the fire started in the men’s section of the detention facility and that all the victims were male.

According to media reports, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office is investigating the cause of the fire.

The tragedy at the U.S. Border comes as two border hearings are being held on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is expected to testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing at 10 a.m.

At the same time, the House Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability will hold a hearing entitled, “Biden’s Growing Border Crisis: Death, Drugs, and Disorder on the Northern Border.”

Representatives from the National Border Patrol Council will be speaking to the House about illegal immigration along the U.S.-Canada frontier, which is the longest international boundary between two countries in the globe.