An indication marks the doorway to a collection of hardened tents on the Camp East Montana immigrant detention middle within the desert at a U.S. Military base on the outskirts of El Paso, Texas, Feb. 13, 2026.
Morgan Lee/AP
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Morgan Lee/AP
4 detainees on the largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention middle within the U.S. filed a federal lawsuit on Saturday alleging human rights abuses, “horrific” circumstances and “extreme medical neglect” on the facility.
The grievance, filed within the U.S. District Courtroom for the Western District of Texas, particulars “inhumane” therapy inside Camp East Montana on the U.S. Military’s Fort Bliss navy base in El Paso, Texas. The go well with describes a litany of abuse allegations, together with an absence of medical care and bodily violence by the hands of guards, and accuses the federal government of human rights and constitutional violations.
“Detained persons are frequently subjected to extreme beatings or sexual harassment by guards; squalid dwelling circumstances; spoiled and insufficient meals; no significant programming or recreation; insufficient entry to primary hygiene merchandise akin to cleaning soap, razors or nail clippers, outbreaks of illness; and restricted or no entry to daylight,” in response to the grievance.
It is the primary lawsuit towards the power. Immigration advocates and former detainees have been calling for the large facility to be shut down for months.
The plaintiffs filed the go well with on behalf of themselves, all detainees of the power and future folks held there. They’re looking for class-action standing for the authorized problem.
In keeping with the grievance, the middle’s guards beat Gerald Akari Angye, one of many named plaintiffs, so severely he needed to be hospitalized and positioned in a wheelchair. Angye, who has been at Camp East Montana for simply over a month, claims he was then locked in solitary confinement for 15 days.
“No human being ought to ever should undergo this,” Angye mentioned in an announcement launched by the American Civil Liberties Union, one of many organizations representing the detainees. “I’ve already skilled torture in my residence nation of Cameroon and I by no means thought I might expertise such severely violent therapy by guards right here in america of America.”
One other detainee recognized within the grievance solely as Navdeep, a former mail handler with no felony historical past, says he skilled soiled bathroom water flowing into his sleeping space, issue accessing cups for ingesting water and respiration issues due to extreme mud from the desert. Navdeep wore the identical garments, together with underwear, for 3 weeks, in response to the lawsuit.
“We may die right here, and it seems like nobody right here would care,” Navdeep mentioned within the ACLU assertion.
Folks being held at Camp East Montana do not obtain well timed medicines to handle a spread of great medical points akin to HIV, most cancers and diabetes, in response to the lawsuit. In February, the detention middle was closed quickly to guests due to a measles outbreak, in response to Marfa Public Radio. The grievance additionally describes housing models with out home windows, crammed areas and a continuing odor of urine and feces, an absence of fresh water and stories that detainees obtain solely two items of bread, a bit of ham or bologna, a slice of cheese and a cookie for all three meals.
ICE Director Todd Lyons and Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Markwayne Mullin are named as defendants within the lawsuit. In an e mail to NPR, a DHS spokesperson who wouldn’t give their identify, rebutted the claims within the lawsuit saying they’re “categorically false.”
“ICE is frequently audited and inspected by exterior businesses to make sure that all ICE services adjust to performance-based nationwide detention requirements. All detainees are supplied with correct meals, high quality water, blankets, medical therapy, and have alternatives to speak with their relations and legal professionals. ICE has larger detention requirements than most U.S. prisons that maintain precise U.S. residents.”
Camp East Montana is a sprawling encampment of tents within the Chihuahuan Desert opened in 2025. It has the capability to carry as much as 5,000 folks however normally homes about 3,000.
No less than three folks have died on the middle, together with Cuban nationwide Gerald Lunas Campos, in response to earlier NPR reporting. The El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Workplace dominated Campos’ dying a murder and nobody has been charged. In February, ICE discovered 49 violations to detention requirements at middle, together with insufficient medical care and failure from workers to “precisely doc required checks to forestall vital self-harm and suicide.” DHS has disputed these claims.
A number of members of Congress have carried out unannounced oversight visits to the detention middle. Minnesota Congresswoman Kelly Morrison, a Democrat, visited in March after ICE detained 1000’s of individuals from her state and flew them to the encampment in the course of the federal crackdown focusing on Minneapolis. Morrison mentioned she was horrified by the cruelty she witnessed.
