Venezuelan Migrant Endured Poverty and Trek to Mexico Before Deadly Fire

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico—Five months after leaving Venezuela, Orlando Maldonado was detained by Mexican immigration authorities near the Rio Grande, a few hundred feet from El Paso, Texas. Six hours later, he died in a fire inside a cell at a crowded detention center along with 38 other migrants, according to authorities and his relatives.

The blaze started when a small group of migrants fearing that they would be deported set alight highly inflammable cell mats to protest being detained, Mexican authorities said. Private security guards and immigration officers abandoned the facility, leaving the migrants locked up as smoke filled the detention area, a surveillance video showed.