International
Mexican authorities report 39 dead in fire at immigration center
March 28 |
A fire at a migrant detention center in the northern Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez left 39 dead and 29 injured, the National Migration Institute said in a statement Tuesday.
Images from the site showed rows of bodies under emergency blankets in front of the compound. Ambulances, firefighters and morgue vans were also seen.
The fire started Monday night at a Mexican immigration agency facility near the El Paso border, in a dormitory area where “68 adult men from Central and South America were being held,” the statement added.
The injured were transported “in serious condition to four local hospitals for immediate attention”.
Authorities were investigating the cause of the fire and called in the National Human Rights Commission, an official entity, to attend to the migrants.
They also began working with consular officials from several countries to identify the deceased.
“The National Migration Institute strongly rejects the acts that resulted in this tragedy,” the note added, without clarifying what actions it was referring to.
Migrant internment centers have been the scene of occasional protests and riots, especially at times of high migratory flow and when the detention facilities were more crowded. However, an incident as lethal as Monday night’s was not in recent memory.
According to the website of the NGO “Sin Fronteras”, which monitors Mexican immigration facilities, the Ciudad Juarez facility has a capacity for 60 people.
In October, Venezuelan migrants rioted inside an immigration center in Tijuana which had to be controlled by police and National Guard troops. In November, a similar situation occurred at the Tapachula detention center near the Guatemalan border. There were no deaths in either incident.
Ciudad Juarez is an important transit point for migrants arriving in the United States. Its shelters are full of migrants waiting for opportunities to cross or who have applied for asylum in the United States and are waiting for their cases to be processed.
In early March, more than 30 civil organizations and migrant shelters issued a statement denouncing the growing criminalization of foreigners in the city, as well as the existence of “arbitrary detentions where municipal agents question people’s immigration status, extort them, break their documentation and steal money and other belongings.”
The tension of those waiting in that town was felt a little more than two weeks ago when a group encouraged by false rumors that they could cross into the United States attempted to cross the border bridge en masse and was blocked by U.S. authorities.
International
Police investigate deaths of Rob Reiner and wife as apparent homicide
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is investigating the deaths of Hollywood actor and filmmaker Rob Reinerand his wife as an “apparent homicide,” amid a wave of tributes to the director of classics such as When Harry Met Sally.
According to U.S. media reports on Sunday, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead at their Los Angeles mansion with what appeared to be stab wounds.
Several political figures shared messages of condolence following the reported deaths of the director of A Few Good Menand his wife.
While the LAPD did not officially confirm the identities of the victims, it stated that homicide detectives were dispatched to the Reiner residence.
“At this time, no additional details are available and the investigation into an apparent homicide is ongoing,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement posted on social media.
LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton told reporters that no arrests have been made and that no individuals are currently being questioned as suspects.
“I’m not going to confirm whether anyone is being questioned at this moment or not. We are going to try to speak with as many family members as we can,” Hamilton said.
CNN reported that a family spokesperson confirmed the deaths of Reiner and his wife.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, former U.S. President Barack Obama, and former Vice President Kamala Harrisissued statements expressing their condolences.
International
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to comply with current water obligations affecting U.S. farmers and ranchers and for Mexico to cover its water deficit to Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
The department уточified that the agreement applies to both the current cycle and the water deficit from the previous cycle.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of failing to comply with the water-sharing treaty between the two countries, which requires the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water from the Colorado River, while Mexico must supply 432 million cubic meters from the Rio Grande.
Mexico is behind on its commitments. According to Washington, the country has accumulated a deficit of more than one billion cubic meters of water over the past five years.
“This violation is severely harming our beautiful crops and our livestock in Texas,” Trump wrote on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture said on Friday that Mexico had agreed to supply 250 million cubic meters of water starting next week and to work toward closing the shortfall.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, quoted in the statement, said Mexico delivered more water in a single year than it had over the previous four years combined.
Trump has said that if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations, the United States reserves the right to impose 5% tariffs on imported Mexican products.
Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister for North America, Roberto Velasco, said that a severe drought in 2022 and 2023prevented the country from meeting its commitments.
International
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Several people were shot on Saturday in an attack on the campus of Brown University, in the northeastern United States, local police reported.
“Shelter in place and avoid the area until further notice,” the Providence Police Department urged in a post on X. Brown University is located in Providence, the capital of the state of Rhode Island.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been briefed on the situation and that the FBI was on the scene.
At 5:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. GMT), Brown University said the situation was still “ongoing” and instructed students to remain sheltered until further notice.
After initially stating that the suspect had been taken into custody, Trump later posted a second message clarifying that local police had walked back that information. “The suspect has NOT been apprehended,” the U.S. president said.
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