Mexico arrests 5 in migrant facility fire that left 39 dead, president vows justice for victims

Five people have been detained in Mexico in connection with a fire that killed 39 migrants as a and injured 28 at a government run migrant facility in the border town of Ciudad Juárez, Mexican authorities said Thursday.

The arrests stem from six arrest warrants that were issued for officials with the National Migration Institute, the agency running the facility, two security officers who worked for a private company contracted to oversee the building, and the person who authorities believe started the fire. 

During a press conference, Sara Irene Herrerías, an attorney with the prosecutor general's office said the five men arrested are being indicted and will be arraigned on charges of "intentional homicide."

Public Safety Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez said at the press conference that her office will assist the prosecutor general in the investigation.

The five security personnel being charged were in the detention center at the time the fire erupted and allegedly left behind at least 39 male migrants who perished in the fire. Rodríguez said they work for a private company called Group de Seguridad Privada Camsa.

The government run National Migration Institute contracted the company in 2019 to use 503 security officers in facilities throughout 23 different Mexican states. Rodríguez asserted the company had only 15 officers and lacked the necessary licenses to arm its officers. 

The Public Safety Secretary's assertions raise troubling questions about whether the Mexican government did its due diligence in awarding the security company the contract, and whether it was negligent in doing so. 

For now, Rodriguez said the government had filed a request to terminate the company's contract and Mexico's federal protective service will temporarily take over the company's contractual obligations in Ciudad Juárez. 

Initially, Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador blamed the fire on migrants, suggesting they started the fire as a way to protest deportations. 

Herrerias corroborated that assertion, saying that a small group of migrants at the center bunched up some mattresses to protest "about some inconveniences." 

Since then however, a 30-second video from inside the center was posted on Facebook by a local human rights group, Equipo De Rescate Cd Juárez, depicts migrants trapped behind padlocked doors desperately trying to break free to escape. 

In that same video, security personnel were seen pacing in front of the door instead of utilizing the little time they had to open it, and then black smoke filled the room. 

Herrerías said earlier in the week that the images demonstrated the security personnel did not take "any action to open the door to the migrants who were already inside with the fire."

The Attorney General's Office has also filed a complaint with Mexico's top immigration official, alleging they knew about the fire and ordered the migrants remain incarcerated. 

Investigators are currently reviewing the facility's conditions and emergency procedures. Rodríguez said of the 39 deceased migrants, there were 18 were Guatemalans, seven Salvadorans, seven Venezuelans, and one Colombian. 

Rodríguez also said that President López Obrador has ordered that officials begin reviewing reparation payments to the relatives of the victims for the loss of their loved ones. 

"We know that the pain caused by a loss of life can never be overcome, but it is our obligation to protect the families of the victims," she said.

López Obrador also has not said whether the head of the National Institute of Migration (INM), Francisco Garduño Yáñez, will resign, or responded to inquiries about whether the private security company in charge of the immigration station belongs to a Nicaraguan consul.

"There will be no impunity. Those responsible will be punished," the Mexican president said on Thursday during his daily press conference.

The scrutiny of the Government of Mexico has grown since Monday's fire

We already know who owns the company in charge of security at the immigration station in the tragedy: a consul of the Nicaraguan dictatorship in Mexico. Our government has given him contracts for 3 billion. #Loret in @latinus_us :

Ya sabemos quién es el dueño de la empresa encargada de la seguridad en la estación migratoria de la tragedia: un cónsul de la dictadura de Nicaragua en México. Este gobierno le ha dado contratos por 3 mil millones. #Loret en @latinus_us: https://t.co/2OE4uHXYr9

— Carlos Loret de Mola (@CarlosLoret) March 30, 2023