CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico —
They came to offer a serenade for Joel Alexander Leal Peña, born 21 years ago.
“¡Tus amigos llegamos aquí!” sang some three dozen people, clustered in the shadow of metal bars fronting a government building in this border city. “All your friends have arrived here!”
They held up cellphones to share the moment with loved ones a continent away as they repeated the words of a spirited South American birthday ballad. “We want you to be filled with happiness!”
Some had tears in their eyes.
Leal Peña, a native of Venezuela, had died days earlier, just shy of his birthday.
He and at least 38 others perished in a fire Monday at an immigration detention center just across the Rio Grande from El Paso. Now the bunker-like government building formed a haunting backdrop for the performance — both birthday observance and farewell.
All the dead and the dozens injured were natives of Central and South America, including at least seven Venezuelans. The fatality ledger so far also lists 18 from Guatemala, seven from El Salvador, six from Honduras and one from Colombia. Authorities said they all succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.
They were among the thousands of migrants marooned here and in other Mexican border towns hoping for a chance to enter the United States.
With migration a politically charged issue north of the border, U.S. leaders have endeavored to offshore to Mexico the task of keeping migrants out. But this latest tragedy again dramatized for many how Mexico is ill-equipped to handle the influx of U.S.-bound migrants transiting the country.
“We’ve become the gatekeepers for the United States,” said Coni Gutiérrez, a longtime immigration activist here. “But Mexico isn’t prepared to be the guard dogs for any country.”
It’s still not publicly known if any of the victims of the fire had been sent back to Mexico from the United States under Title 42, a public health measure invoked during the pandemic that allows U.S. officials to expel migrants expeditiously without giving them a chance to file for political asylum or other potential relief.
Mexican authorities have labeled the deaths as homicides. Leaked security footage showed staff members at the facility hastening away as smoke and flames gathered and prisoners remained trapped behind bars.
Officials have filed homicide charges against three federal immigration agents, a private security guard, and a Venezuelan detainee — who, prosecutors allege, helped start the fire by setting a mattress ablaze during a protest about a lack of drinking water, food and other staples at the facility. Authorities expect more arrests.