A surveillance camera recorded the moment the fire broke out at the immigration station in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, which has killed 40 people and seriously injured 28 so far. In the 32 seconds of the video, migrants are seen locked in a cell as the fire grows and smoke spreads. Three agents from the National Institute for Migration (INM) can also be seen walking through the room and eventually exiting. None of these agents attempted to retrieve the locked victims, at least for the duration of the recording. This newspaper tried unsuccessfully to get the INM version of what happened.
The fire broke out around 9:30 p.m. Monday. Around 70 migrants were arrested throughout the day for selling handicrafts or asking for money on the street. Federal authorities took them to the facilities of their immigration center at the Stanton-Lerdo International Bridge, just meters from the Rio Grande, which marks the border between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso on the United States side. There they recorded their statements, some were questioned, and then they were separated by gender.
The fire started in the room the men were in: they burned some of the mattresses in the immigration station. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador assured this Tuesday that they did so in protest, fearing deportation. Some local media have pointed out that the cremation served to draw attention to the conditions in which they were being held.
In the video you can see how the flames start to grow in one of the corners of the room and start to appear through the bars. In these first moments, three agents of the National Institute for Migration (INM), two men and one woman, are identified. She is the first to leave the room as a migrant kicks the fence. At one point, another of the detainees approaches the bars towards the two agents still there, the recording is silent, so what he may have said is not known. But neither INM officer reacted, nor did they even turn to look at the cell, which had quickly filled with smoke. The last agent runs out without looking back to the dozens of men trapped by the fire.
In the last seconds of the video, the image loses clarity as the smoke begins to fill the entire room. Only some flame sources within the cell are highlighted.
In its most recent statement, the INM also makes no reference to this episode, but rather claims to be working with the investigating Attorney General’s office and the National Human Rights Commission to “uncover the truth about what happened.” She provided the agents with the officials’ testimonies and evidence. The Chihuahuan government has confirmed that seven officers and 15 women, who were unharmed and receiving medical and psychological care, had to be evacuated. The INM reports that all those affected have been granted visitation permits on humanitarian grounds so that they can be treated in hospitals. The federal government also pays for the funeral expenses of the deceased.
The Guatemalan Migration Institute said 28 of those who died were from Guatemala. For his part, Foreign Minister Tony García has identified the 13 fatalities in Honduras. That makes a total of 41 deaths, one more than the INM has previously reported. In addition, the FGR has confirmed that another 12 Venezuelans, 12 Salvadorans, one Colombian and one Ecuadorian would make up the number of injured according to the authorities’ current figures.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a thorough investigation into what happened, while the Joe Biden government used the incident to warn of the dangers of migration. “This tragedy is a heartbreaking reminder of the risks facing migrants and refugees around the world,” Deputy State Department Spokesman Vedant Patel said at a news conference on Tuesday.
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