The border between the US and Mexico has been a political hot button for decades, with politicians frequently skirting the issue. But whether or not they care to address it, every day there are hundreds and thousands of people caught in the chaos.
Last night, a fire broke out in a dormitory at a Mexican immigration detention center in Ciudad Juarez near the US city of El Paso, leaving more than three dozen migrants dead. This is one of the deadliest incidents ever at an immigration lockup in the country. Thirty-nine people died and 29 more were injured and are in “delicate-serious” condition, according to the National Immigration Institute. There were 68 men from Central and South America detained in the facility, men desperately waiting for an opportunity to seek better opportunities.
Tensions between authorities and migrants have been running high in recent weeks in Ciudad Juarez, where shelters are full of people waiting for opportunities to cross into the US or who have requested asylum and are waiting out the process. Mexico has recently stepped up efforts to stem the flow of migrants to the US border under pressure from the American government. As a result, border facilities have struggled with overcrowding, and the country’s immigration lockups have seen protests and riots.
The exact cause of the fire remains to be seen, but the cause of death is clear: seeking a better life by crossing the southern border has been a crime punishable by death for a long time.
Side Items
Another School Shooting: Covenant School. Nashville, TN. Six people murdered, three of them 9-year old school children. Innocent little kids relegated to the past tense because this country insists on the right to readily access weapons of war. Here’s the obligatory Onion article. It never fails to disgust me
Self-Congratulating Scum: Lowlife and proud apartheid proponent Benny Netanyahu announced yesterday that he would delay his attempted coup of Israel’s judiciary until later this year. The weak excuse for a man really said, “When there is a possibility of preventing a civil war through dialogue, I, as the prime minister, take a timeout for dialogue.” Wowwww, so benevolent this autocrat. Instead of illegally overhauling the corrupt apartheid government, him and his little minister of national security Itamar Ben Gvir instead signed an agreement delaying the judicial reform to the summer session of parliament. In exchange, a brand new “security force” will be formed which will operate under the direct orders of Ben Gvir, who is a literal terrorist
When Hospitals Close: This article tells the horrifying story of a mother desperate to save her child’s life in the aftermath of the devastating tornadoes that ripped through Mississippi over the weekend. The destruction was made worse by the fact that rural hospitals in Mississippi have been closing due to lack of funding. Since 2013, Mississippi’s republican leaders have rejected more than $10 billion from the federal government that could have been used to expand Medicaid, even with the federal government offering to pay between 90% and 100% of the cost. So Tameka Miles was forced to drive for hours on pitch black roads and over downed power lines to seek treatment for her son’s broken ribs and punctured lung. This country is broken in a thousand different ways