Migrants Died In Detention Fire Because They Couldn’t Pay $200 Bribe to Be Released
▻https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7bmk4/ciudad-juarez-jail-fire-migrants-died-failed-to-pay-bribe-for-release
Thirty-nine migrants died locked in that cell as the immigration detention center burned on the night of March 27, and another died later at the hospital. At least one migrant in the cell allegedly started the fire in protest at not being given food and water by the guards for 10 hours.
Survivors say those who died did so for one reason: they could not or did not pay a $200 bribe to security guards to be released.
Three survivors and two guards at the facility told VICE World News that the immigration jail at the center of the tragedy was a defacto “extortion center,” where only migrants with the means to pay were released. Others would have to stay in jail and be sent to Mexico City or deported back to their origin country.