A US Army post straddling New Mexico and Texas, headquarters in El Paso, with a history dating to 1848
Multiple recent reports have revealed unsafe conditions across U.S. immigration detention sites and a rising death rate since January 2025. Federal watchdog and medical examiner findings have shown missing evidence, inadequate medical care, suicides and a homicide ruling after a Haitian asylum seeker died days after release. Protests and hunger strikes are escalating at privately run centres.
Human Rights Watch and the ACLU have documented abuses at Camp East Montana, Fort Bliss, including filthy conditions, denied medical care and withheld contact with lawyers or family. The reports cite multiple detainee accounts of violence, sickness and coercion, urging the U.S. to shut the facility and launch independent investigations.
The East Montana detention camp in El Paso faces renewed scrutiny as ICE extends its operation and a no-bid contract through Sept. 2027, with a potential cost of $776 million in addition to a $452 million initial award. Reports of mistreatment, safety concerns, and detainee deaths are shaping a fierce political debate.