Jessica Xantomila and Jared Laureles
The newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, August 8, 2024, p. 11
One week before the hearing in which Francisco Garduño, head of the National Migration Institute (INM), will seek a alternative solution
that allows him to be released from the criminal proceedings he faces for the fire at the immigration detention center in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, more than 70 organizations and activists urged Judge Víctor Manlio Hernández Calderón, of the Federal Criminal Justice Center of that entity, to deny this appeal.
The alternative solution would have absolving effects, that is, he would no longer be investigated or punished, even if after the investigations are concluded a greater responsibility for the tragedy is determined.
which left 40 dead, they warned.
Foundation for Justice, Support for Venezuelan Migrants, Casa Tocha and Asylum Access, among others, reiterated their call to not allow the impunity enjoyed by Francisco Garduño and the INM in the face of serious human rights violations, which have resulted in deaths in detention centers for undocumented immigrants, including after the fire at the Ciudad Juárez ranch. The Attorney General’s Office must complete the investigation that will lead to a fair trial for the victims.
they noted.
In a document, they explained that the conditional suspension of the process, established in the National Code of Criminal Procedure, which will be seen at the hearing next Monday, aims stop the prosecution of the accused and extinguish the criminal action
.
Unlike the others involved, they pointed out, Garduño is not being investigated for homicide or injuries, but for illegal exercise of public service, so the classification of the crime for him is more beneficial, when his responsibility should be greater than that of all the defendants in the case.
They reported that on April 30, 2023, the head of the INM was linked to the process and promoted his first alternative solution
which was denied by Judge Hernández Calderón on September 22, 2023.
