MEXICO CITY, March 29: Forty migrants were killed in a fire that broke out
late on Monday (local time) at a migrant detention centre in the border city
of Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico. Over two dozen others have been taken to
hospitals.
The fire followed a protest by the migrants at the centre. Mexican President
Andrés Manuel López Obrador told reportes on Tuesday that some migrants put
mattresses at the door of the shelter and set them on fire.
However, a Venezuelan migrant who was sent back to Mexico and was confined
to the shelter said the migrants are locked up in rooms and therefore they could
not have started the fire, which began at 9 pm.
The Mexican National Migration Institute runs the centre. The dead were of
different nationalities - 13 Hondurans, 12 Salvadorans, 12 Venezuelans, a Colombian
and an Ecuadorian were among the 68 people affected by the blaze. The victims
have not been identified.
US Customs and Border Protection said they were "prepared to receive and process
those who were injured in the fire and are being transported via ambulance from
Mexican to US medical facilities for treatment".
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an investigation.
Ciudad Juárez, on the Mexican-Texas border, is a major crossing point for migrants
wanting to go to the US. The detention centre is located on the Mexican side
of the Stanton-Lerdo Bridge, which links Mexico and the US.
Recently, the US administration has been forcing the Mexican authorities to
check the illegal migration into the US.
An indefinite number of people die trying to cross over to the US every now
and then.
Two migrants suffocated to death on a freight train in Texas early this month.
Fifteen others needed fell sick. US Homeland Security Secretary Alejando Mayorkas
blamed the deaths on "callous" smugglers, according to Reuters.
Seventeen people died when a bus carrying migrants crashed in Mexico's central
Puebla state last month.
Nine migrants died as they tried to cross the Rio Grande River into the US
in September last year.
In one of the deadliest incidents, 53 migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras
and El Salvador died of summer heat in a tractor trailer in Texas in June last
year.
Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson, who opened a new chapter in
space age last month by launching the first manned private flight
to the edge of space, flying in his own spaceplane, has
invited everyone to join his expedition of space travel and
experience the thrill of totally losing your weight (BMI = 0) and enjoy
the mind-blowing sight of the earth's curvatures from the orbit far above: 
Can we ask the vaccinator, "Do you pull back the plunger and
then push the vaccine? Do you Aspirate?" When the vaccination
for covid started there were reports of worrisome incidents of
adverse events post immunisation, the serious complaints being
non-specific blood clots. These related to viral vector vaccines of
human and non-human source: AstraZeneca and Janssen. How
did it happen. There are various views. But here is a suggestion
how simply it can be prevented. 
While the rationalists debunk the episode as a ploy to make up for
the losses in offerings during the corona lockdown, the believers
stick to their claim, they have seen it after all! The claim of
Shankaralinga temple resembles the miracle of Ganesha drinking
milk in Delhi way back in 1995. Although they belong to two
different branches of science. 
A pair of socks gifted to her by her niece displayed on her legs has done
the job for Gumball Poodle. The demand for 'Future is Female' is
skyrocketing indeed. What more could one ask for?
