LOS ANGELES — Grief mixed with indignation is churning into fury among many Central American activists in Los Angeles this week as they pored over images of the Monday night inferno that engulfed Mexico’s National Migration Institute in Ciudad Juarez, killing at least 39 immigrant detainees.
Southern California activists condemned the behavior of guards who, in a surveillance video, can be seen fleeing the holding area as flames licked at cell doors, and demanded justice for the victims and their families.
The Mexican government has said that the fire was caused by detainees igniting their mattresses in protest because they faced deportation. But activists on both sides of the border have questioned that account and rebuked Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
