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At Least 40 People Killed In Migrant Center Fire Near U.S.-Mexico Border

<p>A raging fire at a migrant center near the United States-Mexico border resulted in at least 40 deaths&comma; and officials believe the asylum seekers started the blaze in protest of their pending deportation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Most Of The Deceased Were Guatemalan Citizens<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>According to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;apnews&period;com&sol;article&sol;mexico-fire-migrant-facility-dead-eea0b6efafd77f9868ef27ed1cf572b3" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">AP News<&sol;a>&comma; the incident broke out on Monday night at a National Migration Institute-run center in Ciudad Juárez&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;president-of-mexico-blames-u-s-fentanyl-crisis-on-lack-of-hugs-embraces-among-families&sol;&quest;&lowbar;gl&equals;1&ast;1i01wzk&ast;&lowbar;up&ast;MQ&period;&period;&ast;&lowbar;ga&ast;MTQ2MTU4OTM3LjE2ODAwMTYyNTc&period;&ast;&lowbar;ga&lowbar;V2HX8YP3XL&ast;MTY4MDAxNjI1Ni4xLjEuMTY4MDAxNjI3MS4wLjAuMA&period;&period;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Mexico<&sol;a>—directly across the border from El Paso&comma; Texas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A total of 68 men were being housed in the center at the time&comma; and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nbcnews&period;com&sol;news&sol;latino&sol;fire-migrant-center-us-mexico-border-ciudad-juarez-rcna76943" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">initial reports<&sol;a> cited 39 deaths while the remaining 29 were transported to hospitals in &&num;8220&semi;delicate-serious condition&period;&&num;8221&semi; However&comma; the death toll was eventually cited as having increased to 40&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The injured and deceased were reportedly identified as being from the Central and South American countries of Guatemala&comma; Honduras&comma; El Salvador&comma; Colombia&comma; Ecuador&comma; and Venezuela&period; Guatemala Foreign Affairs Minister Mario Búcaro notes that the vast majority of the deceased were Guatemalan citizens&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Officials Say Migrants Set Mattresses Aflame To Protest Pending Deportation<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Notably&comma; AP News reports that Andrés Manuel López Obrador—the president of Mexico—said the fire was started by the migrants themselves after learning they&&num;8217&semi;d be deported&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Regarding how the situation played out&comma; López Obrador added&comma; &&num;8220&semi;They never imagined that this would cause this terrible misfortune&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; we have to note that there&&num;8217&semi;s some pushback against officials&&num;8217&semi; narrative that the migrants started the fire themselves&period; In fact&comma; Dallas Morning News correspondent Alfredo Corchado notes that one Haitian migrant slammed the situation as &&num;8220&semi;a crime against humanity&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We want justice&period; This is a crime against humanity&period;”<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1640760217842647041" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Additionally&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;UNSR&lowbar;Migration&sol;status&sol;1640721437282426880&quest;s&equals;20" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Felipe González Morales<&sol;a>—the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights of Migrants—blames the tragedy on &&num;8220&semi;the extensive use of immigration detention&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">There are no further updates at this time&period; We send our prayers and condolences to the survivors&comma; as well as the families of those who perished&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-wrap wpra-plugin-container" style&equals;"justify-content&colon; center&semi;&semi;"> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-container" data-ver&equals;"1&period;3&period;10" data-post&lowbar;id&equals;"117459" data-show&lowbar;count&equals;"true" data-enable&lowbar;share&equals;"onclick" data-behavior&equals;"regular" data-animation&equals;"true" data-share&lowbar;url&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;40-migrant-center-fire-mexico&sol;" data-secure&equals;"0d81ef196e"> <div class&equals;"wpra-call-to-action" style&equals;"color&colon; 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Nick Fenley

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