Mexico is investigating a fatal fire at a migrant facility
The Mexican Embassy in the aftermath of the Campanas del Estado Nacional del Medio Ambiente (Casablanca) on Monday
The Mexican government has so far identified at least eight people who could be held responsible, Rodriguez is 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 after a group of migrants gathered mattresses and set them on fire. The migrants who were inside the center said that a group of people set the fire for a protest.
A surveillance video from inside the center obtained by CNN shows how quickly the flames spread throughout the holding area after inmates set mattresses on fire. It shows that those who were caught were behind bars with a locked gate.
The Mexican foreign ministry has been in contact with a number of countries, to identify the victims and return their bodies, Rodriguez said.
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 at the news conference questioned whether Monday’s incident raised concerns about the funding of Mexico’s migration institution, but the budget had been deemed adequate following a review.
An investigation of possible misconduct at a Mexican border crossing port of entry into the U.S. from Juarez, the third death resulted by a fire
Several Mexican border cities have been affected by migrants who have been sent back from the US because of a public health restriction that is set to be lifted next month.
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.
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Mexican authorities said Wednesday that eight employees or officials are being investigated for possible misconduct at a migrant detention center where a fire killed 39 detained men.
Hundreds of people hoping to cross into the U.S. from Juarez were met with angry and frustrated people in the northern border city.
Private security guards, immigration agents, and a police officer from a state in the Mexican state of Chihuahua are under investigation. Rodríguez said.
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.
The migrants have spent weeks trying to make appointments on a U.S. cellphone app to file asylum claims, Adding to anger over the deaths. Rumors spread among the migrants that they might be let in 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.
U.S. officials said Wednesday night that a total of about 1,000 migrants had crossed the river and were being processed in an orderly manner. It was not known if they would be allowed to stay or if they would be deported.
President Lpez Obrador said immigration agents and security guards from a private company were at the facility.
The story of the Ciudad Juarez demigrante arrest and the prosecution of a group of illegal immigrants in the United States
It was not clear if the two guards had the keys, but authorities said they should have gotten them or broken the lock since it was difficult given the rapid 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 couldn’t cross the border to file asylum claims because the U.S. immigration policies didn’t allow it. But they were rounded up because Ciudad Juarez residents were tired of migrants blocking border crossings or asking for money.
“There were several complaints from neighbors about a group of migrants, we don’t know if it was this group or another, that was allegedly acting aggressively, asking people in the street for money, demanding it,” said Rodríguez.
After that, Ciudad Juarez Mayor Cruz Pérez Cuellar started campaigning to inform migrants there was room in shelters and no need to beg in the streets. 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.
The mayor told the AP that his office had not received a report of rights abuses. He said that his government had no responsibility for what happened.
“It’s a terrible tragedy that pains all of us. 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.”
