Former Mexico immigration chief apologizes for deadly detention center fire

(27 Sep 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mexico City, Mexico - 26 September 2025
1. Family members of migrants killed in detention center fire in Ciudad Juarez at public apology
2. Guatemalan Indigenous woman during public apology
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Francisco Garduño, former head of the National Immigration Institute:
"I reiterate to everyone that I humbly offer a profound apology for the suffering and harm caused to you and your family, whose lives were changed forever. To the surviving and injured victims, I also reiterate my apologies for the permanent consequences that remain in your lives."
4. Claudia Varela, sister of Daniel Varela, a migrant from El Salvador killed in the fire
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Wilson Alexander Juárez, survivor:
"It's not worth that they apologize because nothing will be the same as before. It's just wasting time here. We are wasting our time here. This doesn't change your life. It makes me very sad that sometimes they give an apology just to absolve themselves, it doesn't work like that."
6. Survivor Stefan Arango, a Venezuelan migrant and a survivor of the fire, crying at public apology
7. Woman crying during public apology
STORYLINE:
The former head of Mexico’s immigration agency apologized publicly Friday to the victims and their families for pain they suffered from the 2023 fire at detention center in Ciudad Juarez that killed 40 migrants.

Francisco Garduño, who had remained in his position as head of the National Immigration Institute until May, had been ordered by a judge to make the apology among other steps while his prosecution for failing in his responsibility to protect those in his custody was temporarily suspended.

There were "human rights violations that never should have happened," due to "omissions by personnel of the (National Immigration Institute)," Garduño said at a public event in Mexico City.

He called for "those responsible" to be punished and for reparations to be made, but without recognizing his own responsibility in the tragedy.

Dozens of relatives of the victims were present, some of whom wept when their loved one's name was read, as were representatives of the immigration agency and the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

On March 27, 2023, two migrants allegedly started a fire inside the Ciudad Juarez detention center to protest conditions.

Security cameras inside the facility showed smoke quickly filling the cell holding several dozen male migrants, but no one with keys attempted to release them.

In addition to the 40 killed, more than two dozen were injured in the fire.

In January, the judge in Garduño’s case gave him 18 months to take several steps that could lead to the closure of his case. Several of his subordinates are facing homicide and other charges.

Lawyers representing the victims and their families worry that Garduño will escape prison time and have challenged the suspension of his trial, but accepted the idea of a public apology because it’s the first time they would be face to face with the former official.

Most of the victims were from Central America and Venezuela.

"I feel angry, rage, they're making him do it, he doesn't do it from his heart, so it's not worth it," said Wilson Alexander Juárez, a 23-year-old Guatemalan scarred by burns on his body, who watched from the front row gripping a walker.

Still, he said he wanted to be present because it was the first time he saw Garduño up close.
AP Video by Fernanda Pesce

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