International

Mexican authorities report 39 dead in fire at immigration center

Photo: VOA

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”.

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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.

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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.

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International

Two killed in shooting at restaurant near Frankfurt Airport

Two people were shot dead early Tuesday at a restaurant in Raunheim, near Frankfurt Airport, according to local police.

Preliminary findings indicate that an armed individual entered the establishment at around 03:45 local time (02:45 GMT) and opened fire on the victims, who died at the scene from their injuries.

The suspect fled and remains at large, while the motive behind the shooting is still unclear, German media reported. Authorities have launched a large-scale search operation.

International

U.S. counterterrorism chief resigns over opposition to war in Iran

Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced Tuesday that he has resigned from his post, citing his opposition to the ongoing war in Iran.

In a post on X, Kent said he could not, “in good conscience,” support the conflict, arguing that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the United States. He also claimed that the war was driven by pressure from Israel and its lobbying influence in Washington.

In a resignation letter addressed to Donald Trump, Kent alleged that at the start of the current administration, senior Israeli officials and influential figures in U.S. media carried out a disinformation campaign that undermined the “America First” platform and fostered pro-war sentiment aimed at triggering a conflict with Iran.

Kent further stated that he could not support sending a new generation of Americans to “fight and die in a war that provides no benefit to the American people and does not justify the cost in American lives.”

Since the United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran on February 28, at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed, while 10 others have been seriously wounded and around 200 have sustained minor injuries, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal.

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International

German president warns Iran war could spread and disrupt Strait of Hormuz

The president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warned Monday that the war involving Iran could expand and further disrupt shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. He urged a swift end to hostilities between Iran, United States and Israel.

Speaking in Panama City during a joint appearance with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, Steinmeier said available information suggests Iran has significant capacity to disrupt maritime traffic through the key oil route.

“Iran has considerable potential to interfere with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,” Steinmeier said through an interpreter. “We should therefore reach an end to the hostilities as soon as possible and call on all parties involved to make that happen.”

The remarks came during Steinmeier’s visit to Panama, the first by a German president to the Central American nation.

The German leader described the possibility of the conflict spreading as “very dangerous,” saying recent developments indicate that such a scenario cannot be ruled out.

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Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump urged allied nations to help ensure safe passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran moved to block the waterway in response to U.S. strikes. However, several allies—particularly in Europe—have shown little support for the proposal.

“Some are very enthusiastic, others are not, and some are countries we have helped for many years,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We have protected them from terrible external threats, and they’re not that enthusiastic. And the level of enthusiasm is important to me.”

Meanwhile, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said the Strait of Hormuz falls “outside NATO’s scope” and stressed that “the war involving Iran is not Europe’s war.”