90% of detainees at Texas ICE camp report beatings, advocates say

• A joint report by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU found that 90% of 71 detainees interviewed at Camp East Montana in El Paso said they were beaten by guards or witnessed others being beaten.
• The 84-page report also documents detainees denied medical care, forced to live in filthy conditions, fed inedible food, and prevented from contacting lawyers or family.
• Angélica César, a lead researcher for the report, called the facility a “human rights disaster” and urged the U.S. government to shut it down.
• The report is the latest in a series of official and advocacy investigations documenting abuse at the facility, which opened in August 2025.

Human Rights Watch and ACLU call for shutdown of Camp East Montana

Dozens of people held at Camp East Montana, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s largest detention facility in Texas, say they were either beaten by guards or witnessed others being beaten, according to a new report issued jointly Wednesday by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The 84-page report, based on interviews with 71 detainees over a five-month period, found that 64 of them — about 90% — said they had personally been assaulted by staff or had seen others physically abused. The report also describes detainees recounting being denied necessary medical care, forced to live in filthy conditions, fed inedible meals, and prevented from contacting their lawyers or family members.

“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 facility, located on the U.S. Army’s Fort Bliss in El Paso, opened in August 2025. It has been the subject of multiple prior investigations, including a federal inspection that found 49 violations of national detention standards, a Government Accountability Office report documenting wasted millions and endangerment of detainees, and reports of 911 calls describing medical and mental-health emergencies. At least three detainees have died while in custody at the camp, according to prior reporting.