Mexico’s Immigration Chief Targeted by Federal Probe into Fatal Migrant Detention Center Fire

Mexican authorities began a criminal investigation targeting the head of Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) in connection with the deadly detention center fire that killed 40 migrants in Ciudad Juarez.

Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office issued a statement on Tuesday morning announcing a criminal investigation against Francisco Garduno, the INM Commissioner, and one of his top aides Director Antonio Andres Vidal Islas. The two men are accused of failing to protect, safeguard, and provide security to the people and installations under their care, the FGR’s statement revealed.

The charges are connected to a fatal March 27 fire where 40 immigrants died and 25 others were injured. As Breitbart Texas reported, the deadly fire sparked much outrage after a leaked video revealed that INM agents and members of a private security company had left the migrants locked inside the detention center while the fire spread.

According to the FGR, on March 31, 2020, there had been another fatal fire at an INM detention center under similar circumstances. In that fire, one migrant died and 14 others sustained various injuries. In the aftermath of that fire, Mexico’s Human Rights Commission issued a series of safety recommendations that were not implemented by the INM and as such, Garduno and his staff are allegedly responsible for not preventing the most recent fire, the FGR revealed in their statement.

In the aftermath of the second deadly fire, an immigration lawyer filed a series of lawsuits alleging that INM agents had been extorting migrants and the ones that were inside the center were the ones that could not pay a $200 bribe to be released and avoid deportation.

Breitbart Texas reported extensively on the widespread corruption within the INM where agents routinely demand bribes from migrants and at times sell fraudulent documents on the side.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.