Mexico investigating migrant fire deaths as suspected homicide

Mexican prosecutors announced a homicide investigation on Wednesday into the recent deaths of 39 migrants in a detention center fire, accusing the people in charge of doing nothing to evacuate them.

Authorities faced mounting scrutiny of their handling of the disaster after video surveillance footage appeared to show guards leaving as flames engulfed a cell with migrants locked inside.

An investigation was opened "for the crime of homicide and damage to property," though other possible crimes would also be considered, Sara Irene Herrerias, a prosecutor specializing in human rights, said.

"None of the public servants or the private security personnel took any action to open the door for the migrants who were inside," she told reporters.

Eight people had been identified as allegedly responsible for the failure, Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez said at the same news conference.

Venezuelan Yuliani Lopez hangs on her neck an image in honour of her friend Orlando Maldonado, one of the 38 migrants who died during a fire at an immigration detention center in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico on March 29, 2023. - Mexico's president on Wednesday vowed there would be "no impunity" over the deaths of 38 migrants in a fire at a detention center, as relatives waited desperately for news about the victims. Authorities faced mounting scrutiny of their handling of the disaster after video surveillance footage appeared to show guards leaving as flames engulfed a cell with migrants trapped inside. (Photo by Guillermo Arias / AFP)

Those include two federal agents and a state immigration official, as well as five members of a private security company.

Prosecutors have already requested several arrest warrants, Herrerias said.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador earlier vowed there would be "no impunity" over the tragedy in Ciudad Juarez near the US border.

"We will not hide anything," he told reporters.

Those found to have been responsible for "causing this painful tragedy will be punished in conformity with the law," he added.

Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday that the migrants were believed to have started the fire themselves in a protest against deportations.

In the video, whose authenticity was confirmed by the government, three guards seem to hurry away leaving migrants in their cell as flames spread and smoke rapidly fills the building.

El Salvador, which said some of its citizens were seriously injured, demanded that the people in charge of the facility be punished since the video showed migrants "were left inside the cells without any chance of getting to safety."

In Washington, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described the video as "heartbreaking" and offered "condolences for the tragic loss of life."

She said officials from the two countries had been in contact, and raised the possibility that some of the injured might be allowed to receive medical assistance in the United States.

 'We want to know' 
Dozens of migrants spent the night outside the National Migration Institute (INM) facility in Ciudad Juarez waiting for information about their relatives and friends.

"We want to know if they were in there or not," said Venezuelan Gilbert Zabaleta, who was looking for two friends.

The dead and injured included people from Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, El Salvador, Colombia and Ecuador, Mexican authorities said.

Migrants left candles and flowers during a vigil outside the detention center, demanding better treatment by the authorities.

Migrants also held protests in Mexico City and the south of the country.

Condolences poured in from abroad, including from Pope Francis.

"Let us pray for the migrants who died in a tragic fire in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, so that the Lord receives them in his kingdom and consoles their families," he said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a "thorough investigation" into the fire.

US President Joe Biden's administration has been hoping to stem the record tide of migrants and asylum seekers undertaking often dangerous journeys organized by human smugglers to get to the United States.

About 200,000 people try to cross the border from Mexico into the United States each month, most of them fleeing poverty and violence in Central and South America.

According to the International Organisation for Migration, more than 7,600 migrants have died or disappeared in transit in the Americas since 2014.

Of those, about 4,400 people perished or went missing on the US-Mexican border crossing route, according to the UN agency.