Mexican immigration officials are reportedly assaulting migrants and placing them in solitary confinement inside the country’s largest migrant camp. While the detention center is only meant to be a temporary station for migrants who have been caught in Mexico and await release or deportation, authorities have systemically turned it into a harsh prison facility where occupants are routinely mistreated and extorted.

Breitbart Texas was able to obtain photographs from inside the Siglo XXI Station in Tapachula, Chiapas, which capture the moments when agents with National Immigration Institute (INM) assaulted migrants and took them to isolation cells.

Located near the border with Guatemala, Siglo XXI is the largest detention facility housing men, women, and children. The facility is not meant to hold individuals charged with any crimes.

Siglo XXI gained relevance in recent years as Mexico experiences a surge in migration from Central America and Caribbean countries. The surge has also become a money-maker for corrupt agents trading in expedited travel documents. Some threaten to destroy legitimate documents already in the possession of migrants if they are not compensated. Some INM agents have been working with cartel-connected human smuggling organizations throughout the country.

In 2019, the human rights organization Fray Matias de Cordova called out Siglo XXI over the death of a migrant who was in solitary confinement and “left to die”.

Breitbart Texas was able to consult with INM officials who revealed that migrants inside Siglo XXI are routinely assaulted and taken into solitary cells for any reason as a control measure to instill fear. A high-ranking INM official who asked for his name to not be released claimed the abuses have been reported to superiors to no avail.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities.  The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “Williams Cortez” from Baja California