At least 39 killed in fire at Mexican migrant facility

At least 39 people were killed after a fire broke out late Monday night at a Mexican migrant facility near the U.S. border.

Another 29 people were injured in the blaze and have been transferred to local hospitals, according to Mexico’s National Migration Institute.

The migrant detention center in Ciudad Juarez — just across the border from El Paso, Texas — was housing migrants from Central and South America.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the migrants at the facility set fire to their mattresses in protest of their imminent deportation, creating the blaze that would ultimately kill more than half of those housed at the detention center. 

“They never imagined that this would cause this terrible misfortune,” López Obrador said at a press conference.

He also noted that the migrants were primarily from Central America, including Venezuela.

The National Migration Institute said in a statement that it “energetically rejects the acts that led to this tragedy.” The agency also noted that authorities are investigating the incident, and consular authorities are being contacted to help identify the migrants who died.