Rights organizations document deaths and abuse at Fort Bliss detention camp – JURIST
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Wednesday releasing or joint report documenting deaths, beatings, medical neglect, and conditions that can occur forced disappearance at the US Army Fort Bliss immigration detention camp in El Paso, Texas.
84 pages REPORTtitled “You’re Coming Out Only Deported or Dead,” is based on interviews with 80 people, including 71 currently detained at the facility, conducted between October 2025 and June 2026. It describes CONDiTiONs at Camp East Montana, which the groups call the largest immigration detention facility in the United States. The camp has capacity for up to 5,000 people and houses prisoners indoors inside tent-like structures, with up to 72 people per group.
The researchers also reviewed records from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office. inquiry that documented unauthorized and unreported uses of force at the facility, in apparent violation of ICE National performance-based detention standards, which state that the civil immigration ban is intended to be non-punitive.
The report documents what it describes as the extrajudicial killing of Gerardo Lunas Campos on January 3. Witnesses told researchers that guards asphyxiated Lunas Campos after he asked for medication while in solitary confinement, crying, “I can’t breathe!” and, “You’re drowning me,” before going silent.
The researchers also noted that more than 60 people interviewed said they had been arrested despite showing documentation of legal presence in the United States. Detainees described being moved around jails and detention facilities without meaningful communication with family or lawyers and said ICE tracking systems did not reflect their whereabouts. Cuban and Venezuelan detainees said they were pressured to accept removal to Mexico despite ongoing legal proceedings and their fear of harm there, in possible violation of the principle of non-return UNDER Convention Against Torture.
“ICE’s East Montana camp is a human rights disaster.” said Angélica César, Aryeh Neier Fellow at HRW and ACLU. “The US government must shut it down, conduct independent investigations into all abuses and deaths in custody, and end mass deportations and forced immigration detention.”
HRW and the ACLU called for the closure of Camp East Montana, investigations into all alleged deaths and abuses, and an end to the mandatory immigration ban. The groups also published a the corresponding June report documenting rising deaths throughout the US immigration detention system nationwide.
HRW said it sought comment from DHS, the Department of Defense and the contractors operating Camp East Montana before publication, but received no response. No plans have been announced to close the facility or conduct an independent investigation.
