Head of Mexican immigration agency charged after fatal fire

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The head of Mexico's National Immigration Institute will face criminal charges for a fire that killed 40 migrants in a locked cell, the federal Attorney General's Office said Tuesday night.

The office said in a statement that the head of the immigration agency, Francisco Garduño, was criminally remiss in not preventing the fire, despite earlier incidents showed the situation at the country's migrant detention centres needed correcting.

Several other officers of the agency will also face charges for failing to carry out their duties, the statement said, but prosecutors did not explain what specific charges or identify the officials.

Prosecutors said the case showed a “pattern of irresponsibility,” their statement released just hours after Mexico's president said two guards seen fleeing when the fire broke out did not have keys to the cell door.

The press office of the immigration agency that Garduño heads did immediately respond to messages and phone calls requesting comment.

Prosecutors said that after a fire at another detention centre in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco killed one person and injured 14 in 2020, the immigration agency knew there were problems which needed to be corrected. but alleged they failed to act.

There have long been complaints about corruption and bad conditions at Mexico's migrant detention facilities.

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