'It’s my family. It’s not a dog that’s in there. We’re migrants. We’re not thieves or gangsters -- nothing like that.' theSun theSundaily Venezuela Mexican Juarez news
A group of activists support migrants during a protest outside an immigration detention center in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on March 28, 2023/AFPPix: Searching desperately for his brother after a fire killed dozens at a Mexican immigrant detention center, Abel Maldonado pleaded with authorities to stop treating migrants like animals.
And he kept repeating it to demand “humane and fair” treatment from authorities in the border city, where he arrived 11 days earlier with his wife, two young children and brother on a freight train known as “The Beast” ridden clandestinely by migrants through Mexico. According to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the migrants were believed to have lit the fire as a protest because they feared they would be deported.“Every migrant has the right to be safe, to be protected, even by migration,“ said Fran Martin Perez, also from Venezuela.Maldonado said he and his brother were brought to the detention center Monday by officials promising them a work permit that would allow them to stay in Mexico legally while seeking asylum in the United States.