Fire erupts at Mexican migrant station, none injured

MEXICO CITY – Mexican authorities say a fire ripped through a migrant detention station in the southern state of Oaxaca, but none of the 117 migrants inside were injured.

The National Migration Institute said the blaze that began early Sunday “was caused by people inside the installations.” The institute said the damage to the facility in Tapanatepec appears “significant.”

Mexico has been issuing a dwindling number of transit visas in recent months amid pressure from the U.S. government to stem migrant flows.

Frustrated by long waits for visas, migrants have broken out of Mexican detention centres, where immigration personnel are not armed. Others are bypassing the process entirely, traipsing along less transited routes to avoid detection by Mexican authorities or hopping trains to get closer to the U.S. border.