Ciudad Juárez live updates: Mexico's president says migrants set fire to facility themselves

Christian Chavez

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AP

Migrants gathered at the immigration facility in Ciudad Juárez, where at least 39 people have died from a fire, to hear any word about their loved ones and friends. As they wait, they’re also voicing their frustrations with a system they say is inhumane.

Several migrants said “we’re treated like animals” in the immigration process, according to Angela Kocherga of member station KTEP.

The migrants say they want accountability and justice — and they don’t trust the official narrative that depicts the fire as being started by its victims, as journalist Alfredo Corchado of Dallas Morning News reported.

The deadly fire struck weeks after migrants' advocates publicly accused the local government of criminalizing their presence and using excessive force.

NPR correspondent Eyder Peralta, who is based in Mexico City, shares this observation on Twitter:

The Mexican newspaper Reforma ran a photo on its front page showing the bodies of migrants who died in the fire (the version below is censored).

"I think it speaks to how migrants are dehumanized in this hemisphere," Peralta writes.

We’re learning more about the nationalities of the migrants who died at a Mexican immigration facility that sits just across the border from El Paso, Texas.

Officials have been working to contact embassies and consulates to help identify people who either died or were hurt in the fire. In an update issued by Mexico's Attorney General's Office on Tuesday, the migrants who have been identified include:

28 Guatemalans
13 Hondurans
12 Venezuelans
12 Salvadorans
1 Colombian
1 Ecuadorian

The federal prosecutor’s office cited the latest data from the National Migration Institute. The office says it's coordinating with other agencies, including the special prosecutor for human rights issues.

U.S. media outlets aren't holding back when it comes to making the connection between Monday's deadly fire and the U.S. policies that restrict or complicate the plight of migrants from Central America.

Understanding the conditions in Ciudad Juarez that would lead to such a tragedy "all starts with Title 42," said James Fredrick, a Mexico City-based journalist and documentarian who covers migration, on NPR's Morning Edition. He is referring to the pandemic-era policy that allows U.S. officials to expel migrants from the country.

But that hasn't inspired a lot of comment from U.S. lawmakers and administration officials who have a hand in shaping immigration policy.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration, hasn't shared a statement on the tragedy or responded to NPR's request for comment.

President Biden has taken a few questions from reporters on guns following yesterday's shooting in Nashville, but the White House press pool hasn't noted any mention of Mexico from the president so far.

Congressional leaders such as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, haven't posted statements on social media or their office websites.

Of the 39 victims who died in yesterday's fire, 28 were from Guatemala, the country's Institute for Migration said in a statement.

The institute says the deaths represent the "series of risks" involved with immigration, calling for "the population to analyze and make correct decisions prior to undertaking the trip, which often has no return, nor final destination."

Isaac Guzman

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AFP via Getty Images

Mexican authorities say migrants at the facility in Ciudad Juárez intentionally set mattresses ablaze in protest after learning they were going to be deported.

This isn't the first case of a protest at an immigration facility in recent months, though it is by far the deadliest.

In October, Venezuelan migrants hoping to enter the U.S. from Mexico rioted inside an immigration center in Tijuana, an event The Associated Press says "had to be controlled" by police and National Guard troops.

Some 40 migrants stormed the National Migration Institute facility in Tijuana and incited roughly 160 others being held there — reportedly after being deported from the U.S. — to join them in protest, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.

Earlier, in late 2021, dozens of migrants rioted in what the AP calls Mexico's largest detention center, in the southern city of Tapachula.

The city, which borders Guatemala, has been home to repeated clashes between migrants and authorities in recent years, including one March 2022 riot that prompted Mexico’s National Migration Institute to temporarily suspend operations there.

It's just past 10 a.m. in Ciudad Juárez, and authorities are still at the immigration center near Stanton Bridge, a popular border crossing point into El Paso, Texas.

Aaron J. Montes, a reporter with NPR member station KTEP, was at the site last night and spotted multiple agencies responding, including Mexico's National Guard and the Medical Examiner's Office.

Here's a bit of how the scene looked last night.

AP

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AP

Juan Ortega

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Getty Images South America

➡️ Follow more from NPR's member stations in Texas.

Francisco Garduño Yañez, Mexico's national immigration commissioner, is visiting fire victims in local hospitals, according to a tweet from the National Migration Institute.

The institute says 29 migrants were injured in yesterday's fire. Described as being in "delicate-grave" condition, the injured were taken to four local area hospitals.

The National Migration Institute says it will share regular updates about their condition.

Herika Martinez

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AFP via Getty Images

If you're trying to understand what life is like for migrants right now, you need to understand Title 42, says James Fredrick, a Mexico City-based journalist and documentarian who covers migration.

Quick refresher: Title 42 is a pandemic-era policy that allows U.S. officials to expel migrants from the country, regardless of whether they might qualify for asylum. The policy is set to expire in May, per a Supreme Court ruling.

"First of all, it's harder for asylum-seekers in Juárez to cross into the U.S. and ask for asylum because they'll just be turned around back into Mexico," Fredrick said. "In these quick expulsions, it creates this loop where people are crossing multiple times."

That means cities like Ciudad Juárez are hosting thousands of temporary migrants at any given time, Fredrick said. That puts a huge strain on shelters, humanitarian workers, municipal services and, of course, the people going through it themselves.

"It means a lot of migrants are living in the streets right now," he said. "It's very visible. Some migrants are very desperate."

➡️Listen to the full interview with James Fredrick on Morning Edition.

Herika Martinez

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AFP via Getty Images

There are still quite a few details of this story we don't have a lot of information on.

James Fredrick, a journalist and documentarian in Mexico City who covers migration, told NPR's Morning Edition it's unclear whether anyone opened a door or tried to help migrants escape.

Also curious, Fredrick says, is why we have yet to hear reports of any staff being killed or injured.

Fredrick also shed some light on the discrepancies in how media have referred to the National Migration Institute Facility. Fredrick says the facility is a "temporary processing center" for migrants that was set up in 2019.

It's one of many temporary facilities that were established in recent years as Mexico increases immigration enforcement in line with U.S. policies.

Located just a few feet south of Stanton Bridge (a major thoroughfare for border crossings), the facility was likely "not set up to hold people for a long amount of time," Fredrick said.

"Generally migration facilities in Mexico do not have a very good reputation," he said. "They're usually pretty dirty, poor facilities. We don't have any sense of what kind of emergency protocols they may have had."

➡️Listen to the full interview with James Fredrick on Morning Edition.

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar says the U.S. joins the families of migrants who are feeling the pain from dead or injured loved ones.

Salazar also said in a tweet that the fire is a reminder to governments in the region that it’s important to fix the “broken immigration system.” He added that the fire in Ciudad Juárez also shows the risks of “irregular migration.”

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that most of the 68 men housed in the facility were from Venezuela and South America, but beyond that, we still don't know a lot about the identities of the victims.

The National Migration Institute said it was reaching out to foreign consulates to try to identify those who died.

But if the migrants were like the others in Ciudad Juárez, there's a good chance some of them were impacted by Title 42.

The pandemic-era health measure restricted immigration on the southern border, allowing authorities to expel migrants who might otherwise qualify for asylum.

In December, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the policy could remain in effect until May, delaying a possible influx of border crossings.

➡️Read more the implications of Title 42.

The fire that killed 39 people at a Ciudad Juárez immigration facility was started by the migrants themselves, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at his morning press briefing.

According to the president, when the migrants were informed they were being deported, they set sleeping mats on fire in protest. López Obrador said the victims were from Venezuela and Central America.

This is the first official announcement of the circumstances around the tragedy, confirming local media reports. Earlier, Mexico's National Migration Institute, the government agency that supervises migration, said when it announced the deaths that it “strongly denounces” the acts that resulted in the blaze.

By early Tuesday morning, the investigation into what led to the deadly fire already included several agencies, from local and federal authorities to Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).

Andrea Chávez, a federal deputy for Ciudad Juárez, tweeted about the fire early Tuesday, saying "it is with deep sadness and grief" that she learned of the account.

"We will wait for the official information and, from this moment on, we send our condolences to the families of the migrants," she continued.

Chávez added that Mexico's attorney general has initiated an investigation into the fire.

The cause of this fire is still unclear. In its statement confirming the news, the National Migration Institute said it condemns the events but didn't offer any speculation as to their cause.

What we do know is that tensions between migrants and local authorities had been on the rise in recent months.

On March 9, a group of 30 migrant shelters and advocacy organizations published an open letter criticizing the treatment of migrants. The group accused authorities of abuse, excessive force and unlawful questioning, according to a report from The Associated Press.

Herika Martinez

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AFP via Getty Images

Just a few days later, a large group of migrants, many of them Venezuelan, tried to cross a bridge into El Paso, Texas, but were blocked on the U.S. side by barricades and officers.

The rush across the bridge may have been sparked by false rumors that those with children would be let into the country, the AP reported.

Herika Martinez

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AFP via Getty Images

The facility is located just across the border from El Paso, Texas, in the city of Ciudad Juárez.

Located along the Rio Grande Valley in the central state of Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez is a popular spot for border crossing and migrant stopovers.

Its shelters are full of those requesting asylum in the U.S. and waiting to hear back.

The National Migration Institute says 68 men from Central and South America were in the processing facility that caught fire.

Photos and video of the scene shared by local media outlets and across social media show a squat white building with few windows. A bridge can be seen rising in the background.

Herika Martinez

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AFP via Getty Images

At least 39 migrants are dead and 29 were injured following a fire Monday at a processing facility in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, according to the National Immigration Institute.

Images published by the local Diario de Juarez newspaper and shared by The Associated Press showed bodies under silver sheets, ambulances and firefighters outside the facility, which is located just across the border from El Paso, Texas.

The fire broke out shortly before 10 p.m. local time Monday, according to the institute. Sixty-eight men from Central and South America were staying at the facility, which hosts migrants who are waiting on requests for asylum in the U.S. or preparing to cross the border.

The 29 injured migrants were taken to four local hospitals for care, the institute says.

The facility says it's reached out to foreign consulates to identify the victims and is asking Mexico's National Council on Human Rights to investigate the incident.

The institute denounced the events without speculating as to their cause.