Dozens dead in fire at Mexican migrant detention center, SBF indicted: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Death toll rises after immigration detention center fire

El Paso Times and USA TODAY Immigration and Border Reporter Lauren Villagran puts the Juárez immigration detention center fire in perspective. Plus, police release body camera footage of the Nashville shooting, USA TODAY White House Correspondent Maureen Groppe explains how lawmakers criticized federal regulators' failure to prevent this month's bank collapses, a Maryland court reinstates the murder conviction against Adnan Syed, and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been accused of bribing Chinese officials.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and this is 5 Things you need to know Wednesday, the 29th of March 2023. Today, what led to a fire at a migrant facility in Mexico. Plus, body camera footage shows the police response to this week's Nashville shooting, and senators put feds in the hot seat over this month's banking collapses.

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At least 40 people were killed and dozens more injured after a Monday night fire at an immigration detention center in Juarez, Mexico, just south of the US Mexico border. For more on this devastating tragedy and what it might mean for immigration policy going forward, I spoke with El Paso Times and USA TODAY Immigration and Border Reporter Lauren Villagran. Hi Lauren, and welcome back to the podcast.

Lauren Villagran:

Hi Taylor. Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Let's start here. What exactly happened at this Juarez Migrant Detention Center?

Lauren Villagran:

So information is still coming in, but what we know so far is that migrant men from Central and South America were being detained at a facility near the US border, on the Mexican side, in Juarez. And after being held for several hours, they apparently set fire to some foam mattresses that were in the facility in protest of their detention. But as many as 39 people lost their lives and another 29 people were injured by the smoke.

Taylor Wilson:

And why were people being held in this facility in the first place?

Lauren Villagran:

So there are growing frustrations in northern Mexico, especially in cities like Juarez, which is right at the border with El Paso, Texas. The United States continues to expel migrants under Title 42, and people are being returned to Juarez by the hundreds. Many others are arriving in Juarez hoping for an opportunity to cross to the United States. But it's not an easy place to live, especially as a migrant where you are vulnerable, where your accent is different. It's an expensive place for Mexicans, even more so for migrants who don't have the means. And the city of Juarez has grown frustrated with a number of migrants who are either living or begging on the street. There was a roundup on Monday that led to some migrants being detained, and also expulsions in which Mexican immigration authorities placed the expelled in this sort of makeshift detention facility that's inside an immigration building in Juarez.

Taylor Wilson:

So Lauren, could this terrible incident spur changes to either Mexican or US immigration policy?

Lauren Villagran:

You know, I don't know. What we do know is that there's been a similar protest at this immigration facility before, in 2019, when Cubans held in this facility also tried to set fire to foam mattresses. No one was injured in that event. But, Mexico has often said that it doesn't "detain migrants," it "rescues them." And so, there's a different approach to migration. That being said, could there be a change in how Mexico detains or temporarily holds migrants? My understanding, from people I spoke to on the street today, is that they may have been able to hold on to some of their belongings. It's not clear how or whether they would've had access to a lighter or other mechanism to set a fire inside this space. But, I can tell you that this immigration facility is not a jail, it's a place where foreigners will go to have their passport stamped or to get permits. There's a waiting area, and apparently, also, some holding rooms that are a part of this immigration building.

Taylor Wilson:

Lauren Villagran covers the border and immigration for the El Paso Times and USA TODAY. Thanks, Lauren.

Lauren Villagran:

Thanks, Taylor.

Taylor Wilson:

You can read more of Lauren's coverage at elpasotimes.com.

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Police released six minutes of body camera footage yesterday from officers who took down the Nashville school shooter on Monday. In the disturbing video, officers entered the Covenant School and clear several wings while also passing by one of the victims on the ground. They then confront the shooter in an upstairs lobby area, firing several shots amid cries of, "Stop moving," and finally, "Suspect down." Five officers from the Metro Nashville Police Department entered the school about 14 minutes after a call about an active shooter came in. The response was a stark contrast to last year's elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where it took more than 70 minutes to end the threat. No motive for the Nashville shooting has been determined. The attack was the country's 130th mass shooting of 2023, according to gun violence archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun violence data.

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Senators held a hearing yesterday aimed at understanding what led to this month's bank collapses. USA TODAY White House Correspondent Maureen Groppe says lawmakers called out bank mismanagement, but also put federal regulators in the hot seat. Maureen, thanks for hopping on 5 Things today.

Maureen Groppe:

Happy to be here.

Taylor Wilson:

So what was the purpose of this Senate hearing on Tuesday?

Maureen Groppe:

So the Senate had a hearing on Tuesday and the House will have a hearing on Wednesday looking at what happened with the Silicon Valley Bank that failed and led to the federal government having to step in. And so, this was trying to figure out how we got to that point, but they weren't hearing from the managers of the bank, they were primarily hearing from the regulators. The Federal Reserve supervises banks and a lot of the focus at this two and a half hour hearing is whether the federal regulators did their job, could they have prevented this from happening if they had done a better job supervising?

Taylor Wilson:

So what did lawmakers criticize about how federal regulators failed to prevent this month's bank collapses?

Maureen Groppe:

Well, they were not letting the bank itself off the hook. It was clear that the bank managers failed. But, what they were also saying is they thought that the federal regulators deserved a lot of the blame. The Federal Reserve official who testified described how, at various points, the regulators of that bank had issued warnings, had downgraded their ratings, but lawmakers were saying, well, clearly that wasn't enough, they weren't bringing down the hammer. If they had, then the bank wouldn't have taken so long to correct the problem. And what happened is, the bank finally did move to fix the risks that they had, but they waited too long, and then when they did, the steps they took caused the bank collapse.

Taylor Wilson:

And Maureen, is this a bipartisan issue?

Maureen Groppe:

It's bipartisan in the sense that Republicans were not the only ones raising questions about whether the regulators themselves shared some of the blame, but it was mostly the Republicans who were focused on that. Jon Tester, the Democrat from Montana, he was one of the senators who said that he thought that the regulators hadn't done enough. But there was more of that coming from the Republican side, and other Democratic senators were focused on what additional steps need to be taken, do regulations need to be tightened either through independent action that the Federal Reserve can take on its own, or through steps that Congress would have to take. And they were also looking at whether regulations that had been loosened during the Trump administration, whether those contributed to the problem.

Taylor Wilson:

And did regulators outline any plans for stricter banking regulations going forward?

Maureen Groppe:

Yeah. So Michael Barr, he's the Federal Reserves vice chair for supervision, he was who got most of the questions at the Senate hearing. He talked about an internal review that is going on that will be done by May 1st, looking at whether regulators did their own job. They are also looking at whether they need to change regulations.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. USA TODAY White House Correspondent Maureen Groppe. Thanks so much.

Maureen Groppe:

Happy to do it.

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Taylor Wilson:

A Maryland court has reinstated the murder conviction against Adnan Syed. He previously served 22 years in prison before his conviction was vacated last fall. His case kicked off the first season of the hit podcast, Serial. The Appellate Court of Maryland ruled yesterday that the family members of murder victim, Hae Min Lee, Syed's ex-girlfriend, who was killed in 1999, were not given notice and enough time to allow them to attend the court hearing that led to Syed's release. The decision calls for a new hearing on the motion to vacate Syed's sentence, and he will not be taken back into custody. He was freed six months ago when a Baltimore judge ruled that the state violated its legal obligation to share evidence with Syed's defense. Prosecutors later dropped murder charges against him saying new DNA test results suggested his innocence.

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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been accused of funneling some 40 million dollars in bribes to two or more Chinese officials in order to release assets connected to his cryptocurrency business. The new charges are the latest legal troubles for the 31 year old crypto entrepreneur. He's faced a series of fraud allegations since being arrested in The Bahamas in December. In this indictment, prosecutors claim he was trying to get foreign officials to unlock accounts belonging to his hedge fund, which China had frozen as part of a crackdown on cryptocurrencies. According to the indictment, the accounts hold roughly a billion dollars in crypto.

FTX, which is short for Futures Exchange, filed for bankruptcy last November. It was initially thought as an old fashioned bank run on the exchanges reserves. But federal investigators alleged that Bankman-Fried actually oversaw a massive con that included stealing deposits from his own company to pay for bets at his hedge fund while still living an affluent lifestyle.

FTX was one of the largest platforms for trading cryptocurrency and had an estimated 32 billion dollar value in January. It's thought that around a billion dollars of customer funds are missing.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every morning, right here, wherever you're listening right now. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nashville shooting bodycam, Adnan Syed conviction reversed: 5 Things podcast