The judge sentenced 3 officials to prison for the death of migrants

Mexican judge issued an informal preventive detention against three officials of the National Institute of Migration (INM) in connection with a fire at an immigration center on the border of Ciudad Juárez, in northern Mexico, in which 40 migrants died.

The officers worked in a station located in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua and It is about the head of the Material Resources Department, Eduardo Apodaca, the coordinator of the Beta Group for the protection of migrants, Juan Carlos Meza, and the immigration agent Cecilia Rivera.

Three officials INM in Chihuahua They are charged with the criminal acts of illegal performance of public office, injury and murder.

Another one involved, he pointed out State Attorney of the Republic (FGR) in this case, it is the NM owner in this entity, Salvador González.

However, on the same day, he received a temporary suspension for a Mexican judge against any warrant of arrest and which he sought by writ of amparo dated last April 12.

The first hearing will continue in the second part next Tuesday afternoon, after two days to frame the charges between Thursday evening and Friday afternoon.

For this same event, the FGR of Mexico reported that it would also initiate criminal proceedings against INM leaders at the national level, Francisco Garduño and Director of Immigration Control and Verification Antonio Molina.

Both officials have been summoned to appear on April 21 at the first hearing where the charges linking them to the fire that killed 40 migrants at the border will be presented. City of Juarez.

This after the FGR showed that it had identified “a pattern of behavior in which the responsible persons omitted safety measures that were essential and mandatory in these cases.”

president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador admitted that the migrants involved could not have escaped because the person in charge of the keys was absent during the incident.

Meanwhile, the Mexican President and Mexican Interior Minister Adán Augusto López refused to request the director’s removal National Migration Instituteuntil their responsibility or not in these facts is determined by the court.

After the event, which killed 6 Hondurans, 7 Salvadorans, 19 Guatemalans, 7 Venezuelans and one Colombian, the Government of El Salvador described it as “state crime”.

According to Mexican civil organizations, 2022 was the most tragic year for migrants in Mexico, because about 900 of them died trying to cross the country into the United States without documents.