Status: 03/30/2023 10:19 am
Eight security officers failed to help migrants trapped in a fire at a collection center, according to prosecutors. 39 people died. The guards only had to open one door.
Authorities are investigating a homicide investigation into wardens after the death of 39 migrants in a fire at a migrant shelter in northern Mexico. Eight employees are suspected of being responsible for the deaths of the detained migrants, the Mexican authorities said.
“None of the officials and none of the private security people did anything to open the door to the migrants who were inside while the fire was already burning,” human rights prosecutor Sara Irene Herrerías Guerra said at a press conference. Investigated because of a “homicide”, bodily harm and damage to property.
Video shows security forces running away
“Instead of saving lives, they were unable to open a door,” said Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez. A migrant is said to have set mattresses on fire, starting the devastating fire. Surveillance camera footage shows that when the fire broke out at the National Migration Agency (INM) facility in the city of Ciudad Juárez, security forces ran away instead of letting the migrants out of a locked room.
The guards being investigated are three officials from the National Institute for Migration (INM) and five members of a private security company. At least four arrest warrants should be issued, Herrerías said.
39 dead and 27 injured
According to the immigration authorities, the 39 dead and 27 injured were migrants from Central and South America who had previously been picked up by the authorities on the streets of Ciudad Juárez and held at the assembly point. 16 injured are in a serious condition, said the security minister.