At least 39 people killed in fire at migrant center in Mexico near U.S. border

At least 39 people were killed at a migrant center in the northern Mexico city of Ciudad Juarez after migrants there set fire to a mattress, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.

They said the fire broke out at the National Migration Institute Office after authorities picked up more than 70 migrants from the streets of Ciudad Juarez, CNN reported.

The migrants started the fire because they feared being deported, the president said. In total, 39 people died and 29 are injured in "delicate-serious" conditions, the National Migration Institute said, according to The Associated Press.

The victims are all men from Central and South America who were being held in the center when the fire broke out, the agency said.

The fire comes as record numbers of illegal migrants have been coming to the United States. Ciudad Juarez is a major border crossing point, just across the border from El Paso, Texas, and the shelters there are full of migrants waiting to enter the United States.