ACLU Sues Over Conditions at Largest US Immigration Detention Center

Civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over alleged human rights abuses at Camp East Montana, the largest immigration detention center in the United States. Located on Fort Bliss military base near El Paso, Texas, the sprawling tent encampment has faced scrutiny since its opening nine months ago.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Human Rights Watch, and the Texas Civil Rights Project brought the complaint on behalf of four detainees currently held at the facility. The lawsuit aims to improve conditions for the more than 2,700 detainees housed there, according to TimesLIVE. The ACLU alleges that detainees are confined in windowless enclosures where they suffer physical abuse by guards, abhorrent medical and mental healthcare, indiscriminate use of solitary confinement, and exposure to diseases such as measles and tuberculosis.

The complaint details a litany of abuses, including severe beatings or sexual harassment by guards, squalid living conditions, spoiled and inadequate food, no meaningful programming or recreation, inadequate access to basic hygiene products, outbreaks of disease, and limited or no access to sunlight. According to NPR, the facility's guards reportedly beat Gerald Akari Angye so severely that he had to be hospitalized and placed in a wheelchair before being locked in solitary confinement for 15 days.

A congressionally mandated inspection of the camp’s temporary structures in February found 49 violations of detention standards, including 11 related to "use of force and restraints" and five related to "medical care". The lawsuit also alleges that at least three people have died at the center since it opened. Notably, the January 3 death of a Cuban immigrant was ruled a homicide by El Paso medical examiners, who cited "asphyxia due to neck and torso compression", per Reuters. Immigration officials initially attributed Geraldo Lunas Campos's death to "medical distress" but later said he tried to take his life during a struggle with guards.

The DHS has disputed the allegations, stating that the $1.2 billion camp meets federal standards for immigrant detention and denying claims of inhumane conditions. In an email to NPR, a DHS spokesperson asserted that ICE is regularly audited and inspected by external agencies to ensure compliance with performance-based national detention standards. The spokesperson also claimed that all detainees are provided with proper meals, quality water, blankets, medical treatment, and opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers.