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Site of new immigration detention facility on Fort Bliss (credit: KFOX14\/CBS4)<\/p>\n
Recently, Camp East Montana, the largest migrant detention center in the country, located inside Fort Bliss, has been under fire by some political leaders and migrant advocates after three migrant deaths were reported in the facility and people have decried inhumane conditions. <\/p>\n
El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar said she has been “sounding the alarm about Camp East Montana, a $1.24 billion privately operated immigration detention facility funded by American taxpayers since it opened. Among the consistent concerns from detainees has been the lack of access to necessary medication, retaliation, and a number of other issues.”<\/p>\n
In a statement emailed to KFOX14\/CBS4 about the new ICE detention centers, Escobar said: <\/p>\n
A private corporation received nearly $30 million through a no-bid federal contract to help design more detention space, including another facility in El Paso. Donald Trump and Republicans have been using American taxpayer funds to enrich these private corporations that are responsible for Trump\u2019s mass deportation efforts, including the corporation operating Camp East Montana that limits adequate oversight, has become increasingly fatal, and does not meet minimum standards for detaining human beings.<\/p>\n
She added, “The existing facilities need to be shut down – not proliferated. The $170 billion in funding for these corporate-run tent cities comes from the \u2018One Big Beautiful Bill.\u2019 This Republican law cut healthcare and nutrition programs for hard-working Americans in order to give the wealthiest Americans massive tax breaks and fund these tent cities and the gestapo-like tactics we are seeing across the country that target U.S. citizens and legal residents.”<\/p>\n
RELATED: Congresswoman seeks a<\/a>ccountability for $1.24B spent on Fort Bliss detention camp<\/a><\/p>\n While DHS has repeatedly denied allegations of inhumane conditions, calling them “fearmongering clickbait.”<\/p>\n The written statement DHS repeatedly uses to respond to all accusations reads as follows:<\/p>\n No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been treated better than illegal aliens in the United States. Get a grip.<\/p>\n On Jan. 14, Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, was pronounced dead after Camp personnel found him unresponsive. <\/p>\n ICE stated it presumed the death was a suicide; the official cause is still under investigation. <\/p>\n READ MORE: 3rd death in ICE custody reported at Camp East Montana<\/a><\/p>\n On Jan. 3, Cuban migrant Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, died in Camp East Montana. <\/p>\n According to a report by The Washington Post<\/a>, Campos’ death might be ruled a homicide; the official results from the medical examiner’s office have yet to be released. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, DHS said Campos died after a struggle with staff during a suicide intervention.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Second migrant death reported at Fort Bliss detention center<\/a> <\/p>\n On Dec. 3, 2025, the first death was reported when Francisco Gaspar-Andres, 48, died of liver and kidney failure.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Guatemalan man in ICE custody dies from suspected natural causes in El Paso hospital<\/a><\/p>\n