Mexico launches criminal case against official migration | World news
Mexican prosecutors have launched criminal charges against top immigration officials as they investigate a fire that killed 40 migrants at a detention center last month, the Attorney General’s office said Tuesday.
The people included the head of the National Migration Agency of Mexico (INM), Francisco Garduno, and the high representative of the agency in the north of Chihuahua where the fire happened, Salvador Gonzalez, said two familiar sources the case.
INM did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Garduno could not be reached directly. Gonzalez said he will cooperate with the investigation and support the victims.
The Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that it had launched criminal charges against six city officials in connection with the fire, identifying them only by first name, as is customary in Mexico.
It was not specified whether the people had been charged or would face charges, and neither the office nor INM provided additional details.
The statement said that Garduno and another high-ranking official, identified by two sources as Antonio Molina, allegedly failed to “supervise, protect and ensure the safety of the people and materials in their charge,” and that simply “crimes against immigrants.”
Molina also could not be reached directly for comment.
The fire comes after warnings from the federal auditor over problems inside INM, and concerns from the National Human Rights Commission over the death of an immigrant in a separate detention center in 2020. .
“They indicate an example of negligence,” the Attorney General’s office said.
The statement also alleged that Gonzalez and three other government officials were linked to the conduct that led to the death of the migrants.
Earlier on Tuesday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the migrants were unable to escape the fire because the person with the key to their locked cell was missing.
Five people were arrested in the case last month, including INM officials and a private security guard. Neither INM nor the security agency commented on the arrests.
