Mexican immigration chief to be charged in fire that killed 40 migrants 

The head of Mexico’s immigration agency, Francisco Garduño, will be charged for a fire in a detention center last month that left 40 migrants dead, President Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday. However, the official will not be dismissed from his position. 

Obrador’s decision to leave Garduño in his position appears to contradict the announcement made by the federal Attorney General’s Office to charge the official with the incident, signaling a possible separation of powers in Mexico. 

The Mexican president added that even though Garduño had been charged, it remained unclear how the Attorney General’s Office would charge him. 

“We are going to wait and we are going to make decisions in the (right) moment,” López Obrador said.

Garduño is a lawyer and a criminologist who assumed the position in June 2019, as Mexico faced pressure from the Trump administration to address the large flow of migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Last month, an immigration center caught on fire after one of the migrants detained inside lit mattresses on fire in protest. Forty male migrants, mostly from Central America, died in the fire when they were unable to escape because the person holding the key to their cell was nowhere to be found. 

According to federal prosecutors, Garduño did not help prevent the disaster in Ciudad Juarez despite previous indications that there were problems at the detention centers. 

According to prosecutors, an investigation found “a pattern of irresponsibility and repeated omissions” in the immigration institute. Garduño failed to "watch over, protect and ensure the safety of the people and facilities in their charge," they added.

Several other officials from Mexico’s immigration agency will also face charges in connection to the fire for failing to carry out their duties, the prosecutors added. 

Mexico’s immigration institute has been criticized for human rights violations and unhealthy conditions at its detention centers for migrants, including lack of clean water, ventilation, and food.