Mexico immigration agency head arraigned in deadly fire

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — The head of Mexico's immigration agency was arraigned on charges Tuesday that he failed in his responsibility to protect those in his custody when 40 migrants died in a fire at a border detention centre last month.

Federal prosecutors said that there are video recordings showing that private security guards in the facility had asked immigration agents permission to release the migrants when the fire started but was denied.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Francisco Garduño, the head of the Mexican Immigration Institute, was responsible for the safety of the country's immigration facilities.

They said Garduño had received photographs of an expansion of the Ciudad Juarez facility in July of last year that showed it lacked basic safety measures and should have led him to shut it down.

A judge denied prosecutors' request that Garduño be removed from his position and be barred from leaving the country.

His next hearing was scheduled for Sunday.

A migrant allegedly started a fire inside the Ciudad Juarez detention centre on March 27. Security cameras inside the facility showed smoke quickly filling the cell holding 68 male migrants, but no one with keys attempting to release them. 

The feeds for those cameras were streamed to a monitoring centre in Mexico City where officials noted problems with the private security company that Garduño was made aware of, but failed to rectify, prosecutors said.

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