Mexico: 39 Dead In Migrant’s Detention Centre Fire
The people held at the migrant’s detention centre were coming from 5 different countries: Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Venezuela. Amnesty International had documented and denounced the grave human rights situation on all these countries, which are the main factor driving people to leave their countries seeking for international protection, frequently passing through dangerous routes and been subjected to abuses from migration authorities and criminal groups.
The deaths and injuries that took place on 28 March as a consequence of the fire of Ciudad Juarez migrant’s detention centre took place in a context in which people have been forced to seek international protection, as they are at risk of losing their lives or suffering other human rights violations, both in their countries of origin and in those of transit and destination. Faced with this situation, the countries in the region, led by the United States of America, have established shared migration policies that are increasingly inhumane, making it almost impossible to access the right to seek asylum, and forcing people to seek more dangerous routes that place them in even more vulnerable situations.
As part of this strategy to curb migration in collaboration with the United States of America and Canada, Mexican authorities have tasked the National Guard with immigration enforcement and militarized the nation’s borders. In addition, they have systematically used immigration detention. In 2022 alone, immigration authorities detained at least 318,660 people in migrant detention centres and expelled more than 106,000, including children and adolescents.
These detentions are carried out without complying with the standards of exceptionality, proportionality, necessity and appropriateness of detention, nor with the highest standards regarding dignified detention conditions, including the prohibition of overcrowding and the availability of sufficient food and water. The First Chamber of Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) established on 15 March 2023 that people should not be held in migrant detention centres for more than 36 hours, after which they should be released from detention.