MEXICO CITY (AP) — The head of Mexico’s immigration agency has ordered the suspension of migrant deportations and transfers due to a lack of funds amid a record-setting year for migration through the country’s territory.
Mexico’s finance ministry suspended payments to the National Immigration Institute in November due to end-of-year budget adjustments, according to the memo.
Deportations had precipitously dropped in April following a fire at a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.
The tragedy threw the immigration agency into chaos and it temporarily closed dozens of its detention centers.
Deportations had just picked up again in October, when Mexico began sending migrants back to their countries, including flights to Cuba and Venezuela.
Persons:
Francisco Garduño, ” Garduño, ”, Adam Isacson
Organizations:
MEXICO CITY, Associated Press, National Immigration Institute, National Guard, Washington Office
Locations:
MEXICO, U.S, Mexico, Ciudad Juarez, El Paso , Texas, Cuba, Venezuela, America, Caribbean