Written by Jose Luis Gonzalez
CHIHUAHUA, Mexico (Reuters) – Migrants trying to avoid arrest set fire to blankets and mattresses at a camp in the northern Mexican city of Chihuahua during a raid by government forces to clear the site in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The enforcement measures near the US border come ahead of the inauguration on Monday of US President-elect Donald Trump, who accused the Mexican government of not doing enough to curb immigration into the United States and threatened to impose sweeping tariffs.
A Reuters witness said that about 250 Mexican officials, including National Guard military police wearing riot gear, surrounded the camp around midnight.
The witness said that the migrants began setting fire to mattresses and blankets in protest, and tried to sneak out of the site carrying their children and belongings.
No deaths or injuries were reported in the fire, which was extinguished in less than an hour.
The Mexican Immigration Agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An immigration official, who was not authorized to speak to reporters, told Reuters that the goal of the operation was to transport the migrants to Mexico's southern border, where they would be asked to return to their countries of origin.
It was not clear how many people were detained.
Many of the 150 migrants were Venezuelan families who stopped at the camp in Chihuahua City, about 220 miles (360 km) from the border city of Ciudad Juarez across from El Paso, Texas, as they headed north to the United States.
Venezuelan migrant Daniel Barrios, traveling with a woman carrying a baby on her back and a child carrying a bright blue backpack, said they were surprised by the sudden police presence.
“They surrounded the camp…they just asked to talk, that they would conduct an inspection and so on,” he said.
“ Tells (Wha:) Me, does it make sense for us to bring all this force of police and army, supposedly to conduct a search in a camp, when they can do it during the day?”
Barrios cut off his remarks when he saw the officials from afar, saying: “We have to act.”
Another family who fled the camp also said they felt confused and afraid. A woman cried as she held two children near her, while two men held their young children in their arms, while red smoke billowed into the air behind them.
“The police and immigration officials came. We arrived at this shelter today, and we don't know what's going on,” one of the men said. “We are confused. We are afraid.”
