Mexico closes 5 migrant holding centres across country

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s government says it has closed migrant holding centres in five parts of the country because they did not meet the minimum conditions required for shelters.

The National Migrant Institute said in a statement Friday it had closed centres in the cities of Reynosa, Nogales, Tuxpan, Morelia and Acapulco.

Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission had warned of the poor conditions in these centres at least since 2016, when it complained of a lack of medical services of most of them and a lack of beds in dormitories.

Migration institute head Tonatiuh Guillen has acknowledged that they were investigating allegations of corruption in the Reynosa centre. He said there were barely a dozen migrants left that centre. The other centres also apparently had very few migrants.