On March 26, 2023, a fire engulfed a migrant detention center in Juarez, Mexico, claiming the lives of 40 individuals and leaving 27 others injured. Nearly a year later, a new report suggests that staff may have knowingly kept detainees locked inside a holding cell as the fire burned.
Immediately following the fire, officials asserted that the keys to the cell couldn’t be found to release the trapped migrants. However, an investigation by Lighthouse Reports, in collaboration with La Verdad and El Paso Matters, found that the key to the detainees’ cell remained inside the facility until moments before the blaze.
Surveillance footage allegedly captures a staff member refusing to unlock the cell. The report indicates that a security guard passed the key to a colleague, who pocketed it.
Audio recordings purportedly capture a uniformed National Migration Institute member stating, “We are not going to open [the cell] for them, I already told those guys.”
Despite mounting evidence, the National Migration Institute has yet to issue a statement regarding the report.
Nine individuals, including federal and state agents, are facing charges in connection to the incident. The commissioner at the time remains in his position despite the criminal charges against him.