Head of Mexican immigration agency charged after fatal fire

People take part in a vigil for the victims of a fire at an immigration detention centre that killed dozens, outside the detention center in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Christian Chavez, AP Photo)

The head of Mexico’s National Immigration Institute will face criminal charges for a fire that killed 40 migrants in a locked cell, the federal Attorney General’s Office said.

The office said in a statement that the head of the immigration agency was criminally remiss in not preventing the fire, despite earlier incidents showing the situation at the country’s migrant detention centres needed correcting.