Report: ICE detainees at Camp East Montana report frequent beatings, other human rights abuses 49%
By Michael Biesecker45% The Associated Press63%
7/15/2026, 4:00:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 19 faulty reasoning types, including Anecdotal, Quote-first Misdirection, and Appeal to Emotion, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 52.7% saturation with 464 hits. Analysis detected 2,286 faulty-reasoning hits from 880 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 49.5% and a BS Rank of 49% (11,308 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 51.70% of the article peer group.
Dozens of people held at a sprawling Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in East El Paso say they were either beaten by guards or witnessed others being beaten, according to a new report issued by legal and human rights advocates.
The 84-page report issued jointly Wednesday by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union also says men and women held at Camp East Montana at Fort Bliss recounted being denied necessary medical care, forced to live in filthy conditions and fed inedible meals.
Detainees also said they were prevented from contacting their lawyers or family members.
Of the 71 detainees contacted over a five month period, 64 — about 90% of those interviewed — said they had either personally been assaulted by the staff or had seen others physically abused, according to the report.
“ICE’s Camp East Montana is a human rights disaster,” said Angélica César, a fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU who was a lead researcher for the report.
“The U.S. government should shut it down, conduct independent investigations into all abuses and deaths in custody, and put an end to mass deportations and mandatory immigration detention.”
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SEE ALSO : ‘Me quiero ir con mi papá’: Inside El Paso’s fast-tracked immigration court for unaccompanied children
Again calling for the permanent closure of the facility, U.S.
Rep.
Veronica Escobar , D-El Paso, in a statement Wednesday said in her nearly 10 visits to Camp East Montana, she has witnessed “dysfunction, neglect and incompetence of very highly paid contractors.”
“Camp East Montana is central to Trump’s mass deportation strategy, a purgatory where immigrants — many of whom had legal protections, permission to be in the country and no criminal records — are warehoused after they have been disappeared from their communities,” she said in the statement.
The new accounts of violence and substandard living conditions inside Camp East Montana are consistent with earlier reports by the Associated Press and others.
RELATED : ‘Millions of dollars in waste’ Federal report shows failures at ICE Camp East Montana
At least three detainees held at the facility since it opened in August have died, including a 55-year-old Cuban migrant who was handcuffed and stopped breathing earlier this year after being held down by guards.
A local medical examiner later ruled that death a homicide and a federal report issued last month said evidence in the case was “missing or destroyed.”
That report by the Government Accountability Office found mismanagement by the Department of Homeland Security had created unsafe conditions that contributed to detainee deaths and suffering even as millions of wasted tax dollars enriched contractors.
In March, ICE replaced Acquisition Logistics, LLC, the prime contractor that had been awarded a deal last year worth up to $1.3 billion to build and manage the camp.
The Virginia company had no prior experience running an ICE detention facility, had never won a federal contract worth more than $16 million and lacked a functioning website.
The change came as an internal ICE review documented 49 deficiencies , which it defines as violations of detention standards or policies, in areas including the use of force and restraints, security and medical care.
LEARN MORE : ‘I am scared to be here’: Lawsuit seeks to halt ICE’s Camp East Montana operations over alleged standards violations
Despite the change in contractors, interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU as recently as last month found serious problems at the camp have persisted.
Detainees recounted degrading and inhumane living conditions that included bathrooms covered in feces, flooded housing units and no access to soap or other basic hygiene supplies, according to the report.
They also reported being held indoors for weeks without meaningful access to recreation, sunlight or fresh air.
People also described receiving spoiled food and inconsistent meal schedules, with delays of up to 12 hours between meals.
The report recounts detainees saying that guards beat detainees in response to hunger strikes, requests for medical attention and complaints regarding detention conditions.
Several people said that guards imposed collective punishment, striking or assaulting multiple people after accusing one detainee of violating rules, according to the report.
Researchers found that staff pressured and coerced those held there into abandoning immigration claims and accepting removal to third countries if they could not be sent back to their own country.
The detainees said they were threatened with violence, criminal prosecution, and indefinite detention if they refused deportation.
In some cases, the report concluded, the circumstances of ICE detention could amount to enforced disappearances, a potential violation of international human rights law.
Human Rights Watch and the ACLU called on the Trump administration to close Camp East Montana and to allow independent investigations into deaths in custody , excessive force, medical neglect and enforced disappearances.
“The abuses documented at Fort Bliss are the predictable outcome of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, its brutal expansion of immigration detention, and the erosion of federal oversight mechanisms,” said César, the lead researcher.
“People at Camp East Montana are human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity and protected from harm.”
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100%flagged-word coverageVeronica Escobar
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