The Public Prosecutor of Mexico investigates the case of a fire at an immigrant detention center in Juarez City as murder, the entity announced this Thursday.

This is evident from the opening statement of the president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), the fire started as a protest by the migrants themselves after learning that they would be deported. However, the public municipality is now focusing its investigation on civil servants of the National Institute for Migration (INM) of Ciudad Juárez dat they did not allow the detained men to escape the fire.

Sara Irene Herrerías, the special prosecutor for human rights, assured that authorities identified eight suspects in the possible crime, most of them federal and state agents. In addition, a migrant is being investigated for causing the fire.

“None of the officials and private security agents tried to open the door to the migrants who were already inside with the fire,” the prosecutor said at a news conference.

Although no names have been mentioned, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry is said to have accepted that one of the deceased was an Ecuadorian migrant.

According to Rosa Icela Rodríguez, Mexico’s Minister of Security, four arrest warrants will be issued against the possible perpetrators.

Rodríguez increased the death toll from the fire that broke out Monday evening from 38 to 39. He also reported that six of those injured are in an “extremely serious” condition, ten in a “serious” condition and nine in a “delicate” condition.

The organization Amnesty International commented on the behavior of the authorities during the incident: “How is it possible that the Mexican authorities have locked people up with no way to escape the fire?” AI blames the “restrictive and cruel migration policies” of Mexico and the United States for the tragedy that left 38 migrants dead.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, a country that lost 12 citizens in the fire, also condemned the actions of the Ciudad Juárez migration station staff in a statement.

The detention center fire started in the area where undocumented foreigners are taken care of. The fire at this center, located near the US border, prompted the mobilization of firefighters and dozens of ambulances.