Mexico Closes 5 Migrant Holding Centers

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's government says it has closed migrant holding centers in five parts of the country because they did not meet the minimum conditions required for shelters.

The National Migrant Institute said in a statement Friday it had closed centers in the cities of Reynosa, Nogales, Tuxpan, Morelia and Acapulco.

Mexico's National Human Rights Commission had warned of the poor conditions in these centers at least since 2016, when it complained of a lack of medical services of most of them and a lack of beds in dormitories.

Migration institute head Tonatiuh Guillen has acknowledged that they were investigating allegations of corruption in the Reynosa center. He said there were barely a dozen migrants left that center. The other centers also apparently had very few migrants.

(KA)