Viangly, a Venezuelan migrant, at an ambulance for her injured husband, Eduard Caraballo, while Mexican authorities and firefighters removed injured migrants, mostly Venezuelans, from inside the National Migration Institute (INM) building during a fire in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on March 27, 2023.
JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ / REUTERS

At least 39 people at an immigration detention center in a Mexican city on the U.S. border died in a fire that broke out at the facility overnight, according to a statement issued early Tuesday by the center, known as the National Immigration Institute (INM). Video from the scene in Ciudad Juárez showed bodies covered in blankets lined up in a row outside the facility.

The INM's statement, shared on Twitter, said 29 other people were seriously injured in the blaze and taken to local hospitals.

There was no immediate information on what caused the fire to break out around 10 p.m. local time on Monday night, but Mexican media said the country's attorney general had initiated a formal investigation, and that investigators were already on the scene.

The INM statement said 68 adult men were housed at the facility from Central and South America, and that it was communicating with consular officials from various nations to identify the victims of the blaze. Reuters reported that the victims were mostly Venezuelan nationals.

The fire prompted the mobilization of firefighters and dozens of ambulances.

Ciudad Juárez, which neighbors El Paso, Texas, is one of the border cities where numerous undocumented migrants seeking refuge in the United States remain stranded.

A recent report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) states that since 2014, some 7,661 migrants have died or disappeared en route to the U.S. while 988 perished in accidents or while traveling in subhuman conditions.


Mexican authorities and firefighters remove injured migrants, mostly Venezuelans, from inside the National Migration Institute (INM) building during a fire, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico March 27, 2023. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ / REUTERS

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