EL PASO — Human Rights groups warn an immigration detention camp at Fort Bliss has reached a “breaking point”
Human rights experts are sounding the alarm about living conditions at the immigration detention camp that houses hundreds of people.
“Fort Bliss is a human and civil rights disaster,” said Eunice Cho Senior Counsel for the American Civil Liberty Union’s prison program.
The ACLU and other organizations allege physical abuse, unsanitary conditions and medical neglect at the massive tent facility operated by a private contractor on military property.
The amount of violence we have heard about officers using against detained people is creating a crisis situation, ACLU Texas attorney Savannah Kumar said.
People at the tent facility have given sworn declarations detailing alleged abusive treatment, according to the ACLU.
“Officers have crushed detained people’s testicles, slammed people to the ground, stomped on them and punched their faces. Officers have beaten people even when they are already restrained and handcuffed,” Kumar said.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said allegations of inhumane conditions are “categorically false” in an emailed statement.
Nearly 3000 people from across the country are held in the camp. Future plans are to increase capacity to 5,000.
Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, pushed back against the allegations, saying: “No detainees are being beaten or abused. All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, access to showers, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members.”
ICE opened the tent facility named Camp East Montana in mid-August to provide extra detention space as the Trump administration works to carry out mass deportations. The federal government awarded the Virginia-based company Acquisitions Logics LLC $1.2 billion to operate the sprawling camp. The ACLU, in a letter, urged the federal government to shut it down.
Along with alleged abuse, human rights advocates say people detained in the tent facility don’t get enough food and what they’re served is often spoiled leading to food-borne illnesses.
“These conditions force individuals to experience widespread hunger, debilitating illness and significant weight loss,” said Charlotte Weiss, staff attorney at the Texas Civil Rights project in El Paso.
Weiss said it’s especially concerning for people with diabetes or other medical issues who have special dietary needs and have experienced long delays in getting their meals.
Immigrant advocates also allege medical neglect that includes delayed or denied care and medication. ICE confirmed the death of a 48-year-old Guatemalan man in custody at the camp. Francisco Gaspar-Andres died in December after he was hospitalized for a medical condition.
“From the moment they were notified of his health crisis, ICE medical staff ensured he had constant, high-quality care,” according to a news release.
The poor living conditions and alleged abuse are designed to force people detained at the facility to voluntarily leave the U.S. rather than challenge deportation, say Human Rights advocates.
“It is cruel. It is inhumane and it’s designed to make people, force people to elf deport, leave and flee which would be called forced migration,” said Marisa Limon-Garza, Executive Director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center.
Limon-Garza, a native El Pasoan, said using department of defense land for the massive detention center is “completely out of alignment with the shared values that our community holds.”
Many in El Paso have close ties to Fort Bliss and generations of veterans call the border city home.
On Saturday, area residents plan to hold a “silent protest” at ICE offices near the tent facility. Organizers with the group, Indivisible The 915, ask demonstrators to wear black and hold signs that describe the conditions inside the camp.
