Civil liberties organizations have launched a federal court challenge against the nation’s biggest immigration detention facility in El Paso, Texas, citing alleged mistreatment and three deaths since the center opened nine months ago.
The American Civil Liberties Union, alongside other advocacy groups, filed the legal action representing four individuals currently detained at Camp East Montana, a large tent facility established as part of President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation strategy.
The lawsuit, submitted to United States District Court Western District of Texas, targets camp operator U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its parent organization, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This marks the first legal challenge to the desert facility located on the Fort Bliss military base, seeking better conditions for over 2,700 detainees, according to an ACLU statement.
The Department of Homeland Security has not yet provided a response to requests for comment. The agency previously stated that the $1.2 billion facility complies with federal immigrant detention standards.
“We’re suing to ensure that no other human being has to endure the inhumane treatment,” said Kyle Virgien, an attorney for the National Prison Project of the ACLU, which filed the lawsuit together with Human Rights Watch and the Texas Civil Rights Project.
A February inspection of the facility’s temporary structures, mandated by Congress, discovered 49 violations of detention standards, with 11 involving “use of force and restraints” and five concerning “medical care.”
The ACLU’s legal filing alleges that detainees face confinement in windowless spaces where they experience physical mistreatment by guards, inadequate medical and mental health services, widespread use of solitary confinement, and exposure to illnesses including measles and tuberculosis.
Venezuelan immigrant Erik Ivan Rodriguez, one of the named plaintiffs, stated he faced physical violence from officials attempting to force him to sign deportation documents. Gerald Akari Angye from Cameroon, another plaintiff, reported being assaulted by guards.
El Paso medical examiners determined that the January 3 death of a Cuban immigrant at Camp East Montana was a homicide, citing “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.”
Immigration authorities initially described Geraldo Lunas Campos’ death as resulting from “medical distress.” Officials later claimed he attempted suicide and died during a struggle with guards who tried to prevent it.
The ACLU’s lawsuit contends he was fatally beaten after requesting his asthma medication. The complaint also states that a fourth individual died shortly after release from the facility, where he had been refused cancer chemotherapy treatment.
Immigration detention fatalities reached a 20-year peak in 2025 as the Trump administration increased the number of people held for alleged violations.
