In Mexico, outrage is mounting after 38 migrants perished in a fire at a migrant center in Ciudad Juárez.
Unconfirmed footage appears to show the instant the fire broke out at the National Migration Institute facility in Mexico. (INE).
In it, uniformed officials appear to flee as a fire breaks out in a corner, leaving behind a gathering of men in what appears to be a locked cell.
The men attempt unsuccessfully to open the barred door as smoke spreads rapidly.
The 32-second clip appears to have been captured by a security camera within the facility, which is located just south of the border crossing at the Stanton-Lerdo bridge, which connects Ciudad Juárez with El Paso, Texas.
When asked about the footage by a Mexican journalist, the interior minister of Mexico did not deny its origin.
Adán Augusto López, the minister, said the government had the video soon after the incident but did not comment further.
The video has been widely disseminated on Twitter and published in several Mexican newspapers, with many people expressing astonishment at the alleged inaction of uniformed personnel.
They point to the moment when one of the uniformed men appears to disregard a man behind the barred door who appears to be attempting to open it but failing as the fire spreads.
As the video lacks audio, it is impossible to determine if any words were spoken as the fire broke out. In addition, it is unclear what the uniformed staff does when they are not on camera.
The smoke then permeates the room, making it difficult to see anything beyond the blaze.
The video appears to corroborate the account of a Venezuelan immigrant’s wife who survived the fire.
Viangly Infante Padrón told reporters that officers had tied up her husband and the other male migrants as they fled.
“There was smoke everywhere, and the women and migration staff were allowed to leave before the firefighters arrived,” she told the Associated Press news agency.
In addition, she stated that the men protested because they had not been given water while in detention.
After learning they would be deported, migrants burned mattresses, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday.
According to Mexican officials, 68 migrants were being held in a section of the facility designated for adult males. The plurality of the participants was from Guatemala, while the remainder were from Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, and Venezuela.
Officials in Mexico have released the names of all 68 men who were present at the site when the fire broke out. But they have not specified which of them are deceased and which have survived.
They reduced the fatalities from 40 to 38, and 28 endured severe injuries and smoke inhalation.
Relatives have complained that they were not given sufficient information about the fate and location of their loved ones.
In addition, they inquired as to why the males were being held in the first place. Monday, they were transported from the streets of Ciudad Juárez to the migration-center, according to Mexican officials.
According to their relatives, the men were attempting to make money by selling candy and washing windscreens on street corners.
El Salvador’s government has condemned “the extremely grave actions of the migration station’s personnel (…) during the fire that killed dozens of people of various nationalities, including several Salvadorans.”
The government of El Salvador has demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice.
On Tuesday, Mexican foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard said investigators have “those directly responsible for the fire.” He did not specify who these individuals are.
The fire occurs at a time when Mexico is struggling to manage an influx of migrants. The majority of whom are attempting to reach the United States by crossing Mexico.
Many of them have held out in border cities like Ciudad Juárez for weeks, if not months, awaiting the possible repeal of a Trump-era policy that allows US border officials to deny entry to individuals “to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.
The Biden Administration tried to end Title 42 last year, but the US Supreme Court blocked the move in December.
Many migrants from Central and South America, as well as Africa, continue to undertake long journeys to the US-Mexico border in the expectation that restrictions will be lifted in the coming months.
