The East Montana Detention Facility under construction on the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The US Army is moving too quickly with its plan to build a Texas immigration detention facility for ICE, and a federal co …
Legal and civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement over conditions at an El Paso immigrant detention facility.
Camp East Montana is the nation's largest immigrant detention facility.
What they're saying:
"Camp East Montana is nothing short of a civil rights catastrophe," Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project, said. "Since the day it opened, the facility has repeatedly made headlines for horrific rights violations and even the deaths of three detained people, yet ICE has still evaded accountability for its conduct. We’re suing to ensure that no other human being has to endure the inhumane treatment that the Trump administration has inflicted on our clients."
The facility has been open for less than a year and has already seen three deaths and a measles outbreak that infected at least 14 people.
The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU of Texas, the ACLU, the Texas Civil Rights Project and law firm Farella Braun and Martel, and cites those things plus claim officers use violent force against those detained, the use of solitary confinement when detainees request basic needs like medical care and hygiene, and claim the camp does not have enough food for those being held.
The ACLU previously sent letters to the federal government with written statements from detainees detailing their experiences and the conditions inside the facility. Civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers have called for the shutdown of the facility.
The lawsuit claims the federal government is violating the Fifth Amendment rights of those being detained. It names four current detainees as plaintiffs and seeks to become a class action lawsuit to include all current and future detainees.
One of the named plaintiffs, Navdeep, said being put in Camp East Montana made them feel like "political pawns."
"We could die here, and it feels like no one here would care," Navdeep said in a statement released by the ACLU of Texas. "With everything happening behind closed doors, I worry the people running this place might cover up the truth about a death or the other injustices that happen here. It’s important for people to know the truth of what is happening here."
Another detainee called the conditions at the facility "inhumane and cruel."
"I have been beaten here and even today, I still have a brace on my hands and wrist," Gerald Akari Angye said. "I am in pain and I am scared to be here. No one deserves such cruel treatment. We are all humans and deserve to be treated like it."
On social media Saturday, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar called the facility "purgatory" for the people being held there.
"In the eight times I’ve been to Camp East Montana to conduct oversight, the conditions of the facility have only deteriorated," Escobar said on X.
Camp East Montana opened in August 2025 and is located on the military base, Fort Bliss.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the ACLU of Texas and court documents filed in the District Court for the Western District of Texas.