Immigration Agency Chief To Be Charged In Fatal Fire

April 12, 2023 4:18 am

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s top immigration official will face criminal charges in a fire that killed 40 migrants last month. Federal prosecutors say he was remiss in not preventing the disaster despite earlier indications of problems at his agency’s detention centers. The decision to file charges against Francisco Garduño was announced late Tuesday. It followed repeated calls from within Mexico, and from some Central American nations, not to stop the case at the five low-level officials and guards, and a Venezuelan migrant, already facing homicide charges in the case. Anger initially focused on two guards who fled the fire without unlocking the cell door to let migrants out. But Mexico’s president said earlier Tuesday they didn’t have the keys.