Mexican immigration officials at a detention center that went up in flames last month in Ciudad Juarez had a running extortion scheme. The scheme involved demanding money from migrants in exchange for being released. Those who were unable to pay were locked inside and eventually deported.
That extortion operation involved officials with Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) who demanded between $200 to $500. The scheme led to the deadly fire that killed 40 migrants last month, a report by VICE revealed. Information from anonymous guards at the center and migrants who were able to get their relatives to pay the “fee” demanded by corrupt Mexican officials helped uncover the extortion racket.
As Breitbart Texas reported, the fire took place late last month in Ciudad Juarez during an apparent protest where authorities locked the migrants inside. The migrants set fire to numerous mattresses as part of the protest. A leaked surveillance video revealed that instead of putting out the flames, agents simply made sure the doors were locked before walking out of the center leaving the migrants to their fate. In the aftermath, 40 migrants died from burns and smoke inhalation.
Soon after the fire, Jorge Vazquez Campbell, a Mexican attorney filed a complaint and posted a video on social media making the same allegations that VICE did in their story claiming that INM agents even used US bank accounts to have the extortion fees wired there by the relatives of detained migrants, Breitbart Texas reported at the time.
Most recently, Mexican federal officials revealed they had formally charged three INM agents, a security guard, and one migrant for their role in the fire. The INM agents are Daniel Goray Yosioka, Rodolfo Collazo de la Torre y Gloria Liliana Ramos García. The security guard has been identified as Alan Omar Pascual, and the migrant has been identified as Jaison Daniel Catari Rivas.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.