Hundreds of migrants demanded justice on Tuesday night outside the Migration’s national institute (INM) in the mexican Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, where on Monday 38 people died due to a fire in an immigration station.
The protests were peaceful and the demonstrators held a prayer vigil for those who lost their lives 24 hours earlier. The event was attended by the Catholic priest Javier Calvillo, head of the Casa del Migrante shelter in Ciudad Juárez, who described the fatal fire as a tragedy.
“This is a tragedy, the loss of one or 50 lives is a crisis. We already saw this coming, we saw everything that has happened with them, the comments of public servants such as the mayor, who said that he was losing patience due to the presence of Venezuelans, ”he explained to the Spanish agency EFE.
He pointed out that a few years ago Ciudad Juárez, as a city, was told that it was the murderer of women due to the femicide crisis and now “it is the murderer of migrants and it is unfortunate that this happens and because of this we make ourselves known internationally.”
The Venezuelan migrant Antonio Torres also told the Spanish agency that the message given by these events is that the Mexican immigration authorities mistreat undocumented foreigners.
He added that he was at the National Migration Institute (INM) seven days ago and that “there is a lot of corruption, since they charge them $20 if they let in a pack of cigarettes or other items. They even last days to be able to talk to his loved ones. We are migrants, not criminals.”
During the demonstration, candles were lit and, together with the priest Calvillo, the migrants said prayers for those who lost their lives, a floral offering was placed and around there were banners with messages such as “No more inhumane policies”, “The problem is that there are more xenophobic than migrants” and “Migrants should not be criminalized”.
On Tuesday, the Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, reported that those directly responsible for the events had already been brought before the Attorney General’s Office (FGR). Ebrard did not specify the number or identity of those presented to the FGR, the report points out.
Previously, the Mexican government had raised the number of migrants killed by the fire in an immigration center to 40, but at night it corrected the death toll and placed it at 38.
I inform you that during the course of the day we have established contact with Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Venezuela to report the tragedy that occurred in Ciudad Juárez and support their consulates to help victims and affected families.
— Marcelo Ebrard C. (@m_ebrard) March 29, 2023
In the morning, the FGR indicated in a statement that the identified migrants were 1 Colombian, 1 Ecuadorian, 12 Salvadorans, 28 Guatemalans, 13 Hondurans and 13 Venezuelans, although without specifying the number of deaths and injuries.
According to Mexican civil organizations, 2022 was the most tragic year for migrants in Mexico, as some 900 died trying to cross without documents from the country to the United States.
The region is experiencing a record migratory flow, with 2.76 million undocumented immigrants detained at the United States border with Mexico in fiscal year 2022.
