Mexico migrant camp tents have been torched across the border from Texas

Makeshift tents and debris are seen at a migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico, on Friday. About two dozen makeshift tents in the area were set ablaze and destroyed, across the border from Texas this week, witnesses said. (Valerie Gonzalez/AP)

MATAMOROS, Mexico — About two dozen makeshift tents were set ablaze and destroyed at a migrant camp across the border from Texas this week, witnesses said Friday, a sign of the extreme risk that comes with being stuck in Mexico as the Biden administration increasingly relies on that country to host people fleeing poverty and violence.

The fires were set Wednesday and Thursday at the sprawling camp of about 2,000 people, most of them from Venezuela, Haiti and Mexico, in Matamoros, a city near Brownsville, Texas. An advocate for migrants said they had been doused with gasoline.