The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) is investigating a fire at a Oaxaca immigration center, allegedly set by migrants early Sunday.
The investigation has revealed that 107 migrants from Guatemala and El Salvador were waiting to obtain temporary permits to remain in Mexico but National Immigration Institute (INM) agents had not issued them.
Just after midnight on Sunday, the migrants began to riot in protest, and set the building on fire.
Eight people were subsequently arrested at the immigration center, located in San Pedro Tapanatepec in the Isthmus of Tehuatepec, but several escaped.
The rest were moved to another center in Acayucan, Veracruz. There were no casualties among either the migrants or the agents guarding them.
The incident and another escape by Cuban migrants from a center in Chiapas on the weekend indicate that the immigration institute continues to be overwhelmed by the migrant numbers.
About 100 Cuban citizens escaped from the immigration center in Tapachula between Saturday and Sunday. Ninety fled the same center last week.
The facility was shut down for 50 days in March after a brawl that was triggered by Cubans demanding faster processing times and protesting corruption among immigrant agents who were allegedly charging up to US $900 to process immigration documents.
Source: Milenio (sp), El Sol de México (sp)
