MEXICO · JUSTICE · MIGRATION
Key Facts
- The country Mexico, the US’s southern neighbour, holds migrants in detention centres run by its National Migration Institute, including along the US border.
- What happened A federal judge closed the criminal case against former migration chief Francisco Garduño late on Tuesday 13 October, without a trial.
- The fire On 27 March 2023, a fire in the men’s wing of a migration station in Ciudad Juárez killed 40 migrants and injured 27.
- The charge Garduño was charged with unlawful exercise of public office, and the judge found he had met conditions including compensation and a public apology.
- The reaction President Claudia Sheinbaum ruled out a new investigation on Wednesday 14 October, saying it was what the judges decided.
- Still open Lawyers for survivors and families say they will appeal, and several constitutional challenges are pending, so the ruling is not yet final.
- Power Index Mexico ranks 2nd of 14 in The Rio Times Latin America Power Index, with 71.4 points (October 2026 edition).
A federal judge in Ciudad Juárez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, has closed the case against Mexico’s former migration chief. Francisco Garduño had been charged over the March 2023 fire that killed 40 migrants locked in a detention cell near the US border.
Judge Víctor Manlio Hernández Calderón ruled late on Tuesday 13 October that Garduño had met the conditions of a 2025 arrangement that suspended his prosecution. The ruling spares him a trial, but survivors and victims’ families say they will appeal, so the decision is not yet final.
How the Judge Closed the Case
The hearing at the Federal Criminal Justice Centre in Ciudad Juárez began at noon on Tuesday and lasted more than seven hours. Most victims and relatives are Guatemalan, so the court provided translation into K’iche’, a Mayan language, the Mexico City daily La Jornada reported.
Mexico’s former migration chief was formally charged in April 2023 with unlawful exercise of public office (ejercicio ilícito del servicio público). Prosecutors said he failed to watch over, protect and secure the people and facilities under his responsibility.
On Tuesday, the prosecutor from the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), Mexico’s federal prosecution service, told the court it had no objection to closing the case. Judge Hernández Calderón then dismissed the case, a step known in Mexican law as sobreseimiento.
The dismissal is not a verdict on the former migration chief’s guilt, since the facts never went to trial, the Saltillo daily Vanguardia noted. Once final, however, it carries the legal effect of an acquittal, the news site Infobae and the local outlet La Verdad Juárez reported.
The Fire That Killed 40 Migrants
On the night of 27 March 2023, fire broke out in the men’s wing of a Ciudad Juárez migration station on the US border. The station belonged to the National Migration Institute (INM), the federal agency that enforces Mexico’s immigration rules and runs its detention centres.
Of the 67 men held there, 40 died and 27 were injured, according to Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), a state watchdog. Security footage showed staff outside the area where the men were locked in as smoke and flames spread, Vanguardia recalled.
The largest group of the dead came from Guatemala, and others came from countries including Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela and Colombia. Two Venezuelan migrants accused of starting the fire remain in a Ciudad Juárez prison on homicide and injury charges, La Verdad Juárez reported.
Telemundo, the US Spanish-language network, reported in 2025 that some of the men had been sent back from the United States under Title 42. That pandemic-era rule let US agents expel migrants to Mexico at once; one survivor was later living in Tennessee while pursuing asylum.
Survivors and Families Plan an Appeal
Derechos Humanos Integrales en Acción (DHIA), a Ciudad Juárez rights group, represents ten survivors and ten families of the dead. Its lawyers, Marcos Zavala and Gabriela Romero Reza, were the only ones in court to oppose the dismissal, La Verdad Juárez reported.
Zavala said they will file an appeal and called the outcome “a procedural fraud”. Several amparo suits, Mexico’s constitutional challenges against official acts, are still unresolved, so the ruling is not yet final.
The Fundación para la Justicia, a Mexican rights group working with migrant families, said on Wednesday that “the victims did not lose a case”. Instead, it said, “corruption and the impunity of politicians protected by power won again”.
Some survivors told the court they still receive no medical care and that the former migration chief’s apology did not satisfy them, La Jornada reported. Fifteen women held at the station that night survived but have never been formally recognised as victims, their lawyers say.
Sheinbaum Rules Out a New Investigation
On Wednesday, President Claudia Sheinbaum, in office since October 2024, ruled out a new investigation into the former migration chief. She told her morning press conference that “it is what the judges determined”, the Ciudad Juárez papers El Diario and Norte Digital reported.
She said the government of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had investigated individual responsibility and compensated the victims. Victims’ lawyer Marcos Zavala argues that prosecutors chose a lesser charge from the start, which opened the door to the deal, Infobae reported.
Where the Former Migration Chief Is Now
Garduño ran the INM when the fire broke out and kept the job until April 2025. In January 2026, Education Secretary Mario Delgado announced him as head of the ministry’s vocational training centres, the Centros de Formación para el Trabajo.
On 24 January 2025, the same judge suspended the former migration chief’s prosecution for 18 months under court-set conditions. He had to compensate victims, apologise in public and take courses in human rights and civil protection, and he made the apology in September 2025.
Leaving court, Garduño told reporters he had been 1,800 kilometres (about 1,100 miles) away that night and “was never negligent”. He blamed the two Venezuelan migrants accused of setting mattresses on fire, Norte Digital reported.
He also said he had “always been respectful of human rights”, La Jornada reported. About 20 protesters had greeted his arrival at the courthouse with shouts of “murderer” and “justice”, the paper added.
What It Means for You
The most senior official charged over 40 deaths in Mexican custody, steps from the Texas border, will now avoid trial. Families in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela and Colombia now pin their hopes of holding him to account on the appeal.
DHIA says the INM, which still runs Mexico’s migration stations, keeps detaining people beyond the 36-hour legal limit. Mexico also receives people deported from the United States, which keeps migration at the heart of its ties with Washington.
The ruling does not end the other prosecutions over the fire, and it is not a court finding that Garduño bore no blame. It means only that he met the conditions a judge set in 2025 in exchange for avoiding trial.
What Is Not Known
It is not known when an appeal court will hear the victims’ challenge, or how long the pending amparo suits will take. Zavala said the victims do not even know yet which appeals court will decide those suits.
Nor is it clear when the cases against the other accused, including lower-ranking INM staff and the two Venezuelan migrants, will reach a verdict. The FGR has not said whether it will defend the dismissal if the victims appeal.
More: Mexico news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Mexico’s former migration chief found innocent?
No, the judge dismissed the case without a trial because Garduño met the conditions of a 2025 court arrangement. Once final, the dismissal has the legal effect of an acquittal, but no court has ruled on the facts.
What happened in the Ciudad Juárez fire?
On the night of 27 March 2023, fire swept the men’s wing of a federal migration station in Ciudad Juárez, opposite El Paso. Of the 67 men held there, 40 died and 27 were injured.
Can the victims still challenge the ruling?
Yes, lawyers for ten survivors and ten families of the dead say they will file an appeal. Several amparo suits, Mexico’s constitutional challenges against official acts, are also pending.
What does Francisco Garduño do now?
Mexico’s former migration chief left the National Migration Institute in April 2025, two years after the fire. Since January 2026 he has headed the Education Ministry’s vocational training centres.
Sources: Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos (CNDH): press release DGDDH/174/2023 on Recommendation 111VG/2023, 2 July 2023; La Jornada: Ex titular del INM, Francisco Garduño, es exonerado de cargos por incendio en Juárez, 13 October 2026; La Verdad Juárez: Juez libra a Francisco Garduño de proceso penal por muerte de 40 migrantes en Ciudad Juárez, 14 October 2026; Norte Digital: Absuelven a Francisco Garduño de incendio y muertes en estación migratoria, 13 October 2026; Norte Digital: “Jamás fui omiso”: Garduño culpa a dos migrantes del incendio que dejó 40 muertos, 14 October 2026; Norte Digital: “Es lo que determinaron los jueces”: Sheinbaum sobre exoneración de Garduño, 14 October 2026; El Diario de Juárez: “Es lo que determinaron los jueces”: CSP sobre exoneración de Garduño, 14 October 2026; Infobae México: Exoneran a Francisco Garduño, extitular del INM, por incendio que dejó 40 migrantes muertos en Ciudad Juárez, 14 October 2026; Infobae México: Exoneración de Francisco Garduño confirma justicia selectiva e impunidad, acusan colectivos, 14 October 2026; Vanguardia: Juez cierra proceso contra Francisco Garduño por incendio que dejó 40 migrantes muertos en Juárez, 14 October 2026; Forbes México: Exoneran a Garduño por incendio en centro de detención de migrantes, 14 October 2026; Grupo Animal: Garduño asume cargo en la SEP a menos de un año de dejar el Instituto Nacional de Migración, 19 January 2026; Telemundo: Two years after the Ciudad Juárez migrant station fire, 28 March 2025.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief