By La Verdad
Ciudad Juárez – A year after a fire in a locked cell at the Ciudad Juárez migrant detention facility killed 40 people, Mexico’s National Migration Institute this week said it has made safety improvements to its immigration stations to avoid the repetition of such events.
Known as INM, the agency is a decentralized body of the federal government in charge of enforcing Mexico’s immigration policies. INM said that it has installed emergency doors and plexiglass, removed bars on windows and doors, and eliminated the use of padlocks and locks in all transit areas in its facilities.
The INM in a press release said that as of June 2023 – three months after the March 27, 2023, fire – it had installed fire extinguishers, fire hydrants and more than 1,500 smoke detectors in migrant facilities. The agency said it also removed bars from more than 400 vehicles used to transport migrants.
A cross-border investigation by La Verdad, Lighthouse Reports and El Paso Matters published on March 19 showed serious actions and inactions that turned the fire into a death trap, including missing or misplaced fire extinguishers, no sprinkler system or smoke alarms, closed access points and keys said to be missing.
On Monday, the INM said “it is working on the improvement and modernization of its detention spaces and infrastructure with the purpose of responding to its mission of serving with a human perspective and respect for human rights.”
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It reported that of the 54 migrant stations, 33 remain temporarily closed since April 29, 2023, when the National Human Rights Commission was asked to certify their conditions and determine which ones should be closed, rehabilitated or continue operating.
The station in Ciudad Juárez was permanently closed after the fire. The building is under the care of the Attorney General’s Office as part of the investigation into the fire.
On Wednesday, the day of the fire’s anniversary, 50 human rights organizations, networks and shelters in a press release denounced the lack of progress in the investigation on behalf of the Mexican government.
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Border experts: Immigration politics over humanitarian crisis sparked tragedy
The tragedy inside a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, in March 2023 was sparked long before the deadly fire, border lawmakers and immigration experts say.
