34 come down with food poisoning at migrant shelter

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The mayor of Juarez, Mexico, says an investigation is ongoing after 32 adults and two children came down with food poisoning at a city-run migrant shelter early Monday.

Nearly a dozen ambulances transported the migrants between midnight and 3 a.m. from the Kiki Romero municipal gym-turned-shelter to various government hospitals with symptoms of food poisoning, according to two police reports obtained by Border Report.

The patients were citizens of Venezuela, Ecuador, Honduras, El Salvador, Bolivia and Mexico.

Mayor Cruz Perez Cuellar said the migrants were in recovery as of 9 a.m., including two who were initially reported with life-threatening symptoms. He said city authorities suspect meals prepared at a facility some distance away from the shelter were either picked up late for delivery or taken out of fridges too early.

The same facility prepares meals for migrants staying at Kiki Romero as well as the Leona Vicario federal shelter.

“Either we picked up (the food) late or they took it out early. There were no incidents at Leona Vicario, so it’s a transportation issue,” Perez Cuellar said at a news conference on Monday morning. “Earlier today we were worried about two very complicated cases, but everyone is good now. […] We will be more careful, we will (investigate) what happened.”

The patients included a 1-year-old and two individuals over 60.

Juarez Human Rights Office Coordinator Santiago Gonzalez Reyes last week said 105 asylum-seekers awaiting CBP One appointments in El Paso were housed at the two municipal shelters. The number of guests at Leona Vicario and some 20 church-run shelters throughout the city was not available.