{"id":466914,"date":"2026-10-15T16:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T16:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/466914\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T16:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T16:16:13","slug":"mexican-judge-closes-the-case-against-immigration-chief-francisco-garduno-over-2023-juarez-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/466914\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican judge closes the case against immigration chief Francisco Gardu\u00f1o over 2023 Juarez fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Maria Veraza \/ Associated Press<\/p>\n

MEXICO CITY \u2014 A Mexican judge closed the case against Francisco Gardu\u00f1o, former head of the country\u2019s immigration agency, for crimes related to the 2023 fire at a Ciudad Juarez detention center<\/a> that killed 40 migrants and injured 30 others.<\/p>\n

The incident was the deadliest event ever to occur at a Mexican immigration center and exposed the shortcomings and irregularities in Mexican immigration detention centers, as well as the way officials treated migrants.<\/p>\n

Gardu\u00f1o faced trial<\/a> for crimes of abuse of public office and dereliction of duty after footage from the fire showed guards failed to respond to cries for help.<\/p>\n

The judge ruled Tuesday that the measures taken to repair the damage had been fulfilled, a decision rejected by the victims, who will appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday, corruption and the impunity of politicians protected by power won again,\u201d denounced the Foundation for Justice, one of the NGOs representing some of the victims, on Wednesday in X.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Dozens of migrants killed in Ju\u00e1rez fire<\/a><\/p>\n

In their view, the judge\u2019s decision to close the criminal case against Gardu\u00f1o, which amounts to a de facto exoneration, \u201cconfirms that justice in Mexico is selective\u201d and denies the victims \u201cfull reparation\u201d and concrete guarantees that similar events will not be repeated.<\/p>\n

\"\"Forty migrants died in a fire at the National Migration Institute in Ju\u00e1rez on Monday. The bodies of the dead were wrapped in mylar blankets outside the facility while dozens of injured were rushed to area hospitals. (Corrie Boudreaux\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n

\"\"Jean Carlos Cadena weeps for his missing friend and the dire circumstances that all migrants face as he listens to a corrido composed in memory of the victims of the National Institute of Migration fire. (Corrie Boudreaux\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n

Miguel Zenteno, one of the Foundation\u2019s lawyers, noted that the sentence is not yet final because it will be appealed and because another injunction is pending against the reparations ordered by the judge for failing to meet the standards required by such serious events.<\/p>\n

On March 27, 2023, some 70 men were crammed into a locked dormitory with no ventilation and barely any water at the Juarez immigration detention center across the border with El Paso. As night fell, a small group set fire to some mattresses in protest, and within seconds, smoke engulfed the entire area.<\/p>\n

Security cameras recorded the guards leaving the area despite cries for help and without even attempting to open the gates. Only the women, held in another cell, were released. Most of the victims were Central Americans and Venezuelans.<\/p>\n

SPECIAL REPORT: Misplaced fire extinguishers. No sprinkler system. A key missing in plain sight. How a Ju\u00e1rez migrant detention center fire turned into a death trap.<\/a><\/p>\n

Gardu\u00f1o, a former prison guard and current official at the Ministry of Education, led the National Migration Institute (INM) starting in 2019 and continued in the role until 2025 despite the tragic incident.<\/p>\n

The judge had previously ordered Gardu\u00f1o to compensate the families, provide them with free specialized medical care, issue a public apology, provide human rights training to migration personnel and guarantee that the events would not be repeated.<\/p>\n

Zenteno acknowledged that the measures were implemented, but only partially, because the damages were not paid by Gardu\u00f1o, as stipulated by the legal process, but rather by the INM, and these payments have not provided full reparations for the families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the victims were not even informed how to access free medical services, and the apology \u201cwas a mere formality, not substantive.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to Gardu\u00f1o, another former director of the institute was accused of the same crimes. Six immigration agents, including a military officer, a private security guard, and the two migrants accused of starting the fire, are charged with homicide and assault. Most of the officials remain free pending trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Maria Veraza \/ Associated Press MEXICO CITY \u2014 A Mexican judge closed the case against Francisco Gardu\u00f1o,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139,158917],"class_list":["post-466914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-juarez-fire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}