At least 1,300 migrants escape from Mexican detention center
Detainees threatened to set fire to the facility to protest against overcrowding.
Mexican Federal police stand guard at an immigration detention center after a group of mainly Cuban migrants escaped, in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico on April 25, 2019. – At least 1,300 migrants escaped from an immigration station in Tapachula, in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, April 25, although 700 of them returned later, officials said. The escape occurred at dinnertime when several Cubans mutinied and threatened to set fire to the center’s overcrowded facilities, witnesses and some of the recaptured said. (Photo by DAMIAN SANCHEZ / AFP)
At least 1,300 mainly Cuban migrants escaped Thursday from a detention center in southern Mexico after threatening to set fire to the facility to protest against overcrowding.
The escape occurred at dinner time when several inmates mutinied at the center in Tapachula, in the southern state of Chiapas, according to witnesses.
“There was a large-scale unauthorized exit of people housed in the migratory station,” the National Institute of Migration (INM) said in a statement.
It said 700 returned soon after leaving, but around 600 others were unaccounted for.
Since October, tens thousands of Central Americans and Cubans have traversed Mexico in so-called “caravans” in the hope of obtaining sanctuary in the United States.
The Tapachula center was built to accommodate 900 people, but residents say it sometimes holds as many as 3,000.
“We have many there… we are very tight, we sleep on the floor,” said one Cuban detainee.
It is the third time since October that migrants at Tapachula have rioted against conditions.
US President Donald Trump says the migrants are a threat to US national security and has demanded that Mexico detain them and send them home.
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
For more news your way
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
