Editor’s Note: This cross-border investigation by La Verdad Juárez in collaboration with Lighthouse Reports and El Paso Matters, republished here by the Texas Observer, reveals new details of mass deaths at a detention center in Ciudad Juárez on March 27, 2023, when 40 migrants died after a fire was set in a locked cell—though the key and fire extinguishers were readily available. Leer en Español
Angry shouts came from inside the men’s detention cell at the Mexican National Migration Institute (INM) in Ciudad Juárez on the evening of March 27, 2023. A group of migrants inside the locked room argued with the center’s security guards and immigration officials over the lack of access to drinking water and food and their constant threats of deportation. Suddenly, the mood intensified, and the yelling turned into screams of fear and cries of distress.
The migrants pleaded for help to escape the room where the flames from sleeping mats formed a fire that quickly spread out of control.
