Mexico: Over 1,000 migrants break out of detention centre
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/04/mexico-over-1000-migrants-break-out-of.html
More than a thousand migrants broke out of a detention centre in
southern Mexico on Thursday evening, authorities said, in a fresh sign
of how a surge in arrivals has stretched the country’s resources to the
limit.
More than half of the roughly 1,300 migrants later returned to the
Siglo XXI facility in the border city of Tapachula in Chiapas state, but
about 600 are still unaccounted for, the National Migration Institute
said in a statement.
Migrants from Cuba, who make up the majority of the people being held
at the centre, were largely behind the breakout, the institute added.
Mexican newspaper Reforma reported that Haitians and Central Americans
were also among those who fled the facility, which has been crammed with
people.
Mexico has returned 15,000 migrants in the past 30 days, officials
have said, amid pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to stem the
flow of people north.
On Wednesday Trump reiterated threats to close part of the
U.S.-Mexico border if Mexico doesn’t block what described as a new
caravan of migrants headed north.
The majority of migrants moving through Mexico are from Guatemala,
Honduras and El Salvador, but Cubans are also joining in large numbers.
More than 1,000 people from Cuba are now in Chiapas, according to
Mexican officials.
