Television footage showed a swarm of police cars, ambulances and other emergency vehicles in the area of the blaze on Monday night. The detention center fire comes after weeks of building tensions in Ciudad Juárez, which has been strained by the constant flow of arrivals. authorities to swiftly expel migrants expires on May 11. The officials said they also have seen a reduction in at least one migrant camp on the Mexican side of the border.Ī growing number of migrants have headed to the north of Mexico in recent weeks, many hoping to cross into the United States when the pandemic-era rule that allowed U.S. government launched a new program to allow migrants to apply for a two-year humanitarian parole, there had been a 97 percent drop in illegal crossings by Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. Senior administration officials told The Times that since Jan. The administration has also opened legal pathways for migrants from certain countries to apply for humanitarian parole to enter the United States, hoping that a more orderly process will be safer. The Biden administration argues that it is trying to discourage people from taking dangerous journeys to illegally cross into the United States. has direct responsibility for what happens to migrants in Mexico, because they force people to stay in Mexico,” said Rachel Schmidtke, a senior advocate for Latin America at Refugees International. “Alongside the Mexican government, the U.S. The measures have reduced the rush of people into the United States, but they have also added to the relentless buildup of migrants in Mexico, where shelters are overwhelmed and where the authorities have a checkered record on human rights.

President Biden has responded to the extraordinary surge in migration at the southwestern border by trying to dissuade people from crossing illegally, leaning more heavily on Mexico to take in migrants expelled by American border officials and house migrants who must wait in northern Mexico to apply for the chance to enter the United States and request asylum.

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but Mexico’s president said it started when detainees began protesting inside the detention facility - just the latest example of the disorder plaguing Mexican border cities dealing with a crush of migrants heading to the United States in recent months.

Back blaze