2010-09-15 11:17

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's immigration chief resigned Tuesday after she testified before the Senate about 72 immigrants who had been found dead, suspected to have been killed by a drug cartel.

The nation's Interior Department said in a statement Cecilia Romero had turned in her resignation to step down as the head of the National Institute of Migration.

However, the statement said nothing about her reasons to resign.

The bodies of the immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador and Brazil were found by the Mexican army at a ranch in Mexico's Tamaulipas state close to the Mexico-U.S. border less than a month ago.

Romero was summoned to take senators' questions on what protective measures her institute had taken for the safety of immigrants.

The Senate passed a bill on September 9 to boost the protection of immigrants regardless of their legal status.