Smoke and Lies
Visual investigation reconstructs the unseen events which saw 40 people suffocate to death in a migrant detention centre fire in Ciudad Juárez, disproving official account
On March 27, 2023, 40 men died in a fire in a locked cell at a temporary migrant detention facility in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Another 27 survived but suffered amputations, lung damage, and other consequences that will remain with them for life. It was the worst tragedy in a government-run migrant detention facility in Mexico’s history.
Citing lack of food and water and threats of deportation, the men set their sleeping mats on fire to protest deteriorating conditions at the facility. Survivors and families of the deceased have never received an adequate explanation as to why they or their loved ones were left to suffocate for half an hour as the cell and the building filled with toxic smoke.
The official narrative has centered on the key to the men’s cell. Mexico’s president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said the cell could not be opened because the official with the key was not at the facility when the fire broke out.
But our investigative team’s findings disprove these claims. In a months-long investigation, reconstructing the incident to show for the first time what happened during the crucial moments before, during and after the fire. This evidence reveals that the keys never left the facility.
We also document missing or defective fire extinguishers and blocked exits, one which had been covered completely with a new wall. And in newly discovered audio recorded by CCTV cameras within the facility, a federal immigration agent can be heard telling staff not to open doors during the first crucial minutes of the fire.
Our investigation finds that blocked exits and locked doors doomed the 67 people abandoned in the cell while staff had access to the keys that could have freed them. The findings raise serious questions about the continuing expansion of migrant detention facilities in Mexico as the United States pushes its neighbor to detain more people arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.
METHODS
To reconstruct the event, Lighthouse Reports and partners, La Verdad in Mexico and El Paso Matters in the US, examined 16 hours of CCTV footage from inside the centre along with previously unheard audio. Additionally, our team analyzed thousands of pages of official documents containing interviews and forensics reports.
Using these sources as reference, we constructed a 3D model of the center to situate the incident reconstruction within a spatial environment. The model was then used to reconstruct the movements of staff and emergency responders as well as
map out the movement and location of keys and fire extinguishers inside the center.
STORYLINES
La Verdad reconstructed the crucial minutes during the fire through confidential interviews, a review of the investigation file, and video analysis, documenting how the National Migration Institute’s temporary shelter for migrants became a death trap for the 67 men abandoned while their mats burned and filled the cell with toxic smoke. Their reporting looks at the quest for justice in the wake of the fire.
El Paso Matters interviewed survivors and documented how they have struggled to rebuild their lives in the US after being admitted under temporary humanitarian parole.