The flames spread out after a group of migrants set fire in a Mexican immigration center: “Do not attempt to open a door nor open the door” says Ms. Rodriguez
The Mexican government has so far identified at least eight people who could be held responsible, Rodriguez was the security minister.
Sara Irene Herrerías Guerra, head of the Specialized Prosecutor for Human Rights of the Attorney General of Mexico, said none of the public employees or the private security officers made any attempt to open a locked door and allow the migrants to escape the burning facility.
The fire started when a group of migrants set mattresses on fire. Migrants who were inside the center have said that a small group set the fire as part of a protest, she added.
CNN obtained a video from inside the center that shows how quickly flames spread after inmates set mattresses on fire. It also appears to show that those detained were behind bars with the gate locked.
Rodriguez told reporters that the Mexican foreign ministry has been in contact with Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Venezuela to identify the victims, repatriate their bodies and support the families of those affected.
Asked about a discrepancy in the number of reported victims, Rodriguez said that the current death toll would change because several deceased and injured migrants haven’t yet been identified.
Reporters questioned whether the incident raised concerns about the level of funding allocated to Mexico’s migration institution, but officials said that the budget had been considered adequate following a review.
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It has had to deal with migrants being sent back to the United States by the public health restriction that is set to expire in early May.
Migrants often wait for weeks or months in Mexico to present their case at a port of entry. In the meantime, many sleep rough in the streets, begging for change to survive.
The deaths in the fire were most likely caused by private security guards at the detain center located in Ciudad Juarez across the border from El Paso, Texas. Video showed guards hurrying away from the smoky fire apparently without trying to free detainees.
Several hundred of the migrants crossed the shallow Rio Grande from Mexico toward the U.S. and approached a gate in the border fence that separates El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. Armed agents stood guard at the U.S. gate entrance.
Five people are under investigation for possible wrongdoing, two of them are private security guards, and one is a federal immigration agent. Rodrguez said something.
The investigation has centered on the fact that guards appeared to make no effort to open cell doors for the detained men — almost all from Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela and El Salvador — before smoke filled the room in a matter of seconds.
Adding to the anger was the frustration of migrants, who have spent weeks trying to get appointments on a U.S. cellphone app to file asylum claims. There are rumors that the migrants might get admitted into the U.S.
Jorman Colón, a 30-year-old Venezuelan migrant, walked hand-in-hand with his 9-year-old daughter, saying he had heard on social media that acquaintances had gotten through.
A group of about 50 migrants initially approached a Border Patrol vehicle and personnel and sat or kneeled on the ground. About 25 of them were then led in single file through the gate into the U.S. and onto a white school-bus style vehicle that drove away.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday that both immigration agents and security guards from a private contractor were present at the facility.
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It was not known if the two guards actually had the keys, but officials suggested they should have gotten them or broken the lock, given the quick spread of smoke.
U.S. authorities have offered to help treat some of the nearly 30 people who are hospitalized in critical or serious condition, most apparently from smoke inhalation.
The migrants were stuck in Ciudad Jaurez because U.S. immigration policies don’t allow them to cross the border to file asylum claims. But they were rounded up because Ciudad Juarez residents were tired of migrants blocking border crossings or asking for money.
The group of migrants acting aggressively, asking people in the street for money, was the subject of complaints from neighbors, said Rodrguez.
After that, Ciudad Juarez Mayor Cruz Pérez has started campaigning to let migrants know there is no need to beg in the street and there is room in shelters. He urged residents not to give money to them, and said authorities removed migrants intersections where it was dangerous to beg and residents saw the activity as a nuisance.
On Wednesday, the mayor told AP his office had not received any report of rights abuses of migrants in detention facilities. His government didn’t share responsibility for what happened.
It’s terrible, and we are all hurt by it. We are grieving,” he said, adding that authorities should “come down with the full weight of the law on those responsible – the people that for instance, didn’t open the doors for the migrants.”
The prosecutor leading the investigation says a Mexican court issued arrest orders for six people in relation to the fire that killed 39 migrant workers.
Federal Public Safety Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez said 27 migrants remained hospitalized, all of them in either serious or critical condition. One other migrant had been discharged, she said. The migrant accused of starting the fire suffered only slight injuries and has already been released from the hospital, presumably into custody.
At least 39 migrants died after apparently starting a fire inside a holding cell at the facility Monday night. More than two dozen others were injured.
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Rodrguez said the private security firm had a federal contract to provide security at immigration facilities in 23 states. She stated that it would face a fine and have its permit revoked.
The state’s top immigration official is accused of knowing about the fire but still ordering that the migrants not be released.
Herrerías, the prosecutor, said Thursday that their investigation would include the entire chain of command for the immigration facility to determine what actions or omissions could be punishable.
Asked directly whether González had been called in to give a statement, Rodríguez said that prosecutors would not say anything which could jeopardize the case, but that the investigation would go where it needed to.
One of the migrants who had been in jail asked a guard for a cigarette and a lighter while five of them started to protest, according to Campbell’s clients.
That was the moment, Campbell said, that immigration agents at the facility notified González of the fire and he “told them not to do anything and under no circumstances should they let them leave.”
The question of why those mattresses caught fire is part of the investigation, says Rodrguez. “We will look at why these mattresses ignited, when that shouldn’t have happened.”
When asked about the location of the keys and the cell being locked, Rodrguez refused to answer the question, saying it was part of the investigation.
Families in the region were angry due to the tragic circumstances of the fire and were still waiting for confirmation that their loved ones were alive or dead.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/31/1167393055/mexico-migrant-center-fire-arrests
Reply to “Comment on Independence of the Attorney General’ ” in Mexico’s House of Representatives for the Statistical Commission on Crime and Propagation of Inflation'”
Mexico’s president said Thursday that he had told the attorney general to not give anyone special consideration and to not allow impunity.