At least 1300 migrants escape from Mexico detention center

At least 1,300 mainly Cuban migrants escaped Thursday from a detention center in southern Mexico after threatening to set fire to the facility to protest against overcrowding.

Migrants from Cuba, who make up the majority of the people being held at the center were largely behind the breakout, the institute added. Mexican newspaper Reforma reported that Haitians and Central Americans were also among those who fled the facility, which has been crammed with people.

The escape occurred at dinner time when several inmates mutinied at the center in Tapachula, in the southern state of Chiapas, according to witnesses.

"There was a large-scale unauthorized exit of people housed in the migratory station," the National Institute of Migration (INM) said in a statement.

It said 700 returned soon after leaving, but around 600 others were unaccounted for.

Since October, tens thousands of Central Americans and Cubans have traversed Mexico in so-called "caravans" in the hope of obtaining sanctuary in the United States.

The Tapachula center was built to accommodate 900 people, but residents say it sometimes holds as many as 3,000.

"We have many there... we are very tight, we sleep on the floor," said one Cuban detainee.

It is the third time since October that migrants at Tapachula have rioted against conditions.

Mexico has returned 15,000 migrants in the past 30 days, officials have said, amid pressure from US president Donald Trump to stem the flow of people north.

On Wednesday Trump reiterated threats to close part of the US-Mexico border if Mexico doesn’t block what described as a new caravan of migrants headed north.

The majority of migrants moving through Mexico are from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, but Cubans are also joining in large numbers. More than 1,000 people from Cuba are now in Chiapas, according to Mexican officials.