In response to the devastating fire at a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico where at least 40 migrants have died, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Americas Director, said:

“These devastating events lay bare a truly inhumane system of immigration enforcement. How is it possible that the Mexican authorities left people locked up with no way to escape the fire?

“It’s extremely insensitive and offensive that the authorities have insisted on downplaying the seriousness of the events and blame the migrants. These facilities are not ‘shelters’, but detention centres, and people are not ‘housed’ there, but deprived of their freedom.”

Amnesty sends its condolences to the families of the migrants who have died and its solidarity with those hospitalised as a result of the fire.

According to a statement from the Attorney General's Office, among the dead and injured were 28 Guatemalans, 13 Hondurans, 12 Venezuelans, 12 Salvadorans, one Ecuadorian and one Colombian.