US EditionFormer Mexico immigration chief apologizes for deadly detention center fire
Francisco Garduño issued a court-ordered apology after a fire killed 40 migrants and injured over two dozen at a Ciudad Juarez detention center in 2023.
- On September 26, 2025, Francisco Garduno, Mexico’s former head of immigration, issued a public apology in Mexico City for a 2023 fire at a migrant holding facility in Ciudad Juarez that resulted in the deaths of 40 migrants and left 27 others injured.
- The fire began when two Venezuelan migrants allegedly set a mattress on fire to protest detention conditions, while guards failed to release inmates as smoke filled the cell holding several dozen men.
- Legal proceedings continue as prosecutors charge the two migrants and at least ten former migration officials and guards with homicide, while some subordinates remain fugitives awaiting trial.
- Garduno expressed sincere regret for the pain and damage caused, but victim advocates and legal representatives criticize the apology as insincere and purely symbolic, noting it fails to ensure justice or prevent similar incidents in the future.
- The tragedy exposed systemic human rights violations and safety failures in Mexico's migrant detention system, prompting some reforms and government compensation, but significant accountability and conditions concerns persist.
52 Articles
52 Articles
Mexico's former immigration chief apologizes for deadly fire that killed 40
Mexico's former immigration chief publicly apologized on Friday for a fire at a migrant detention center in the border city of Ciudad Juarez that killed 40 people and injured 27 others in 2023, part of a court order that allowed him to avoid prison time.
Chihuahua, Chih., A group of about 30 people protested yesterday morning outside the migration stay of the international Lerdo bridge in Ciudad Juárez – where 40 foreigners died and 27 others were injured during a fire on the night of March 27, 2023– in repudiation of the public apology offered by Francisco Garduño Yáñez, former commissioner of the National Institute of Migration (INM).
A Tragic Apology: Former Mexican Immigration Chief's Public Regret Over Detention Center Fire
A Tragic Apology: Former Mexican Immigration Chief's Public Regret Over Detention Center Fire In a dramatic scene at the Museum of Mexico City, Francisco Garduno, the former immigration chief, issued a public apology on Friday, reflecting on the tragic fire that claimed 40 lives at a detention center in Ciudad Juarez earlier this year. His remarks marked a pivotal moment in the pursuit of accountability for the incident, which also left 27 indiv…
Activists and members of the local community demonstrated outside the immigration station of the border port Lerdo, a few hours from the public apology that will be made this afternoon by the former commissioner of the National Institute of Migration (INM), Francisco Garduño Yáñez, in Mexico City, to the families and victims of the fire that occurred on the night of March 27, 2023 in Ciudad Juárez.
Associated Press News
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Whoever was head of the Mexican immigration agency until April, Francisco Garduño, will star on Friday in an act of public apology for the fire in a immigration detention center in 2023, which killed 40 people and injured some 30 people, which led to the death of
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