Mexico investigating fire at migrant facility

By Jorge Antonio Rocha

MEXICO CITY (AA) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday he ordered an investigation and will arrest those behind a fire at a migrant detention facility that resulted in the deaths of 38 migrants.

Lopez Obrador said his government already has preliminary reports and evidence surrounding the fire but an official investigation by the Attorney General's Office will occur.

"However, I am asking the Attorney General's Office, as is their duty and power, to continue with the judicial investigation so that a resolution is issued, action is taken to establish responsibilities, and there is no impunity," Lopez Obrador said at a news conference.

He accused incarcerated migrants of starting the fire and said the blaze began in protest because authorities were going to deport the migrants.

But video circulating on social media and news outlets of the facility in Ciudad Juarez shows immigration officers abandoning the premises and leaving migrants imprisoned as the fire spread.

Different NGOs have held the government responsible for the deaths of the migrants and criticized the government’s migration policies and neglect as the main reasons for the tragedy.

Initial reports had the death toll at 40 migrants, mainly from Central America, with 28 injured. But authorities reported 38 migrants died from smoke from inhalation.

Prosecutors identified some of the migrants who died: one each from Colombia and Ecuador; 12 from Salvador; 28 Guatemalans, 13 Hondurans and 13 Venezuelans.