Deadly Ciudad Juárez fire sparks calls by advocates to rethink immigration policies

CIUDAD JUÁREZ — The deadly fire at a migrant detention center in this border city across from El Paso is renewing calls by immigrant advocates to improve asylum processes for those trying to cross from Mexico to the U.S. — and to rethink how migrants are detained in Mexico.

At least 39 people died Monday and about two dozen others were injured in yet another tragedy involving migrants desperate for a safer life in the U.S.

Mexico’s National Migration Institute, where the detention center is located, revised the death toll to 39 after it announced at least 40 deaths earlier Tuesday. Multiple news outlets also are reporting a toll of 39.

Late Wednesday, Mexican authorities said eight employees or officials are being investigated for possible misconduct at the facility. Anger and frustration in Ciudad Juárez boiled over as hundreds of migrants walked to a U.S. border gate hoping to make a mass crossing.

Mexican officials appeared to place blame for the deaths largely on private, subcontracted security guards at the detention center. Video showed guards hurrying away from the smoky fire apparently without trying to free detainees.

No charges were announced, but authorities said they would seek at least four arrest warrants, including one for a migrant who was part of what they described as a small group that started the fire.

Surveillance video leaked Tuesday shows migrants, reportedly fearing they were about to be moved, placing foam mattresses against the bars of their detention cell and setting them on fire.

In the video, later confirmed by the government, two people dressed as guards rush into the camera frame, and at least one migrant appears by the metal gate on the other side. But the guards don’t appear to make any effort to open the cell doors and instead hurry away as billowing clouds of smoke fill the structure within seconds.

The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, said the tragedy illustrated the dangerous risks in traveling north. He cited the loss of life in two recent smuggling incidents in San Antonio and in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

“These cases are a reminder of the risks of irregular migration,” Salazar said in a statement.

Careful not to blame the Mexican government for its role in the tragedy at the federal facility, Salazar said a safe, orderly and humane immigration system is a shared responsibility among governments, international organizations and society.

On Wednesday morning, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called for an investigation of the fire. He said there is no intention of covering up any wrongdoing. “There will be punishment,” depending on the outcome of the investigation, he said.

In Guatemala City, the government’s Migration Institute confirmed 28 of the fire victims were Guatemalan.

“I feel pain, hurt, shame and disgust,” said Tekandi Paniagua, former Consul General of Guatemala and now a member of Guatemaltecos Abroad. “It’s time for the governments and civil societies, not just in the United States and Mexico, but beyond, to come together and come up with solutions to this complex issue. Anytime there is a tragedy, Guatemalans either lead the list or are right up there. Enough.”

Outside of the National Migration Institute, where Monday’s fire occurred, migrants and their advocates fumed with frustration and outrage.

“We’re not criminals,” said Franmartin Perez Perez, from Venezuela, standing across from the facility. “We have families. I am a father. Why did these people die, burned like animals? Because we’re stuck here.”

Perez Perez blamed multiple governments. “We are victims of the failed policies of three governments: My country, Venezuela; Mexico, which is more dangerous and humiliating than the Darien Gap; and the U.S., where they need and want workers like us,” he said.

“But to get there, we often pay with our lives, like our brothers did.”

Immigrant advocates and religious leaders speak out

José Guadalupe Torres Campos, the Catholic bishop of Ciudad Juárez, criticized Mexico’s recent raids to round up and detain migrants on the streets.

“The government must change its immigration policies,” he said during services at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral this week. “We have insisted — the pope, the bishops — that the government has to change its migratory policies.

“We are all responsible by omission, by indifference … because we have not done the right thing. I assume my responsibility,” but the government still must review its actions, he said.

The Rev. Javier Calvillo, who runs one of the biggest shelters — Casa del Migrante — in Ciudad Juárez, said, “It is terrible that migrants who have already gone through an ordeal to get here end up dying – and even more so, in a place like the National Migration Institute – and even more so, where the Mexican government has no clear migration law that protects migrants.”

Adam Isacson, a border security analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, a D.C. advocacy organization, said governments must rethink the increased use of detention as a deterrent.

“Detention should be used sparingly,” said Isacson, who makes frequent trips to the U.S.-Mexico border. “These are not people who have committed a criminal offense. … It’s just an administrative offense of having been in the country undocumented.”

Isacson was critical of CBP One, the mobile app created by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to enable migrants to start the asylum process from the Mexican border. He said the app could be improved by doubling the number of appointment slots available daily at selected ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border.

But that assumes the U.S. government has the staffing to vet the additional load, said another policy expert. Global migration is at unprecedented levels and requires action by many governments, said Theresa Cardinal Brown, managing director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

“It’s a crisis of many levels,” said Brown, who has also worked for Republican and Democratic administrations. “It’s a humanitarian crisis. It’s a resource crisis, an immigration crisis and a border security crisis.”

Dangerous situation for those seeking safety

At HIAS, a Jewish humanitarian group that has 14 offices in Mexico, including Juárez, reaction was swift. Blanca Lomeli, the Mexico country director for HIAS, said the U.S. and Mexico must thoroughly revise migration policies in both their countries.

“We need to make sure the existing system allows for a fair investigation of the ones responsible for the circumstances of the tragedy,” she said. “It is not fair to blame the migrants for starting the fire.”

Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS, said the fire reflects the “dangerous and uncertain situation” faced by those seeking safety. The fire and other losses of life for migrants also reveal the “urgent need for safe and legal pathways for refugees and migrants.”

Howard Campbell, a border anthropologist at the University of Texas at El Paso, has followed the humanitarian crisis for years and blames the administrations of López Obrador and President Joe Biden.

The “tragedy signifies the failures of both U.S. and Mexican immigration policies,” he said. “On one hand, the mixed signals sent by the Biden administration have only increased migrant flows and created dangerous and desperate conditions for migrants.

“On the other hand, Mexico’s corrupt handling of the migrant issue has further endangered migrants, and also contributed to cruel events like the fire in Juárez,” he said. “The governments of both countries need to make sharp changes in policy for humanitarian reasons.”

Influx of migrants to Juárez

For the past month, an influx of migrants has been arriving in Ciudad Juárez and other Mexican border communities in anticipation of the lifting of Title 42, a pandemic-era public health order that’s set to expire May 11. One night, up to 1,500 migrants arrived by train.

For weeks, migrants across the city have been sleeping on sidewalks, parks and churches. Those with money have stayed in motels or private homes, where they pay a nominal fee. To make ends meet, many sell candy or newspapers on the street. Some beg for a peso here, a dollar there.

The vast majority carry smartphones that often receive misinformation from smugglers who prey on their vulnerability.

“We’re like animals begging for a treat,” said a Haitian migrant who goes by the name El Charlie. He was attending a peaceful protest outside the facility.

“We want to do things the right way, but either the system shuts down, or we are led here and there,” he said, referring to CBP One, the mobile app created by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

“We’re not animals,” he said. “We’re human beings. Have mercy on us.” He called on the Biden and López Obrador administrations to put “humans first, not politics.”

Diana Solis, a member of the Human Rights Workers in Action group in Juárez, called on López Obrador not “to misinform when the incident is still under investigation.” She denounced the conditions that migrants have to endure, saying facilities and the community are not prepared for the influx of migrants arriving daily in Ciudad Juárez.

She and her colleague, Diana Rodriguez, called on federal and local leaders to refrain from using anti-immigrant rhetoric that only adds to the rising tension felt across the city.

The roundup of migrants added pressure that led to “the tragedy that we witnessed here,” said Rodriguez. “This needs to stop.”

In a city that’s no stranger to tragedies, a group of Mexican people, including many women carrying candles and flowers, showed up to offer their condolences at the federal facility.

Among them was Luz del Carmen Flores, whose daughter disappeared in 2008.

“Who do we think we are as a society?” she said. “We’re not more mighty than they are. How do you think their families feel, not knowing what happened to their sons, husbands, brothers? I’m here in solidarity to call for justice. Let there be justice.”

Staff writers Alfredo Corchado and Imelda Garcia reported from Ciudad Juárez, and Dianne Solis reported from Dallas. The Associated Press contributed to this report.