Lawsuit Alleges ‘Dire’ Human Rights Violations at Nation’s Largest ICE Detention Camp
A sweeping class-action lawsuit filed early Saturday against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) paints a harrowing picture of the nation’s largest immigration detention center, accusing the agency of fostering conditions that amount to severe violations of human and constitutional rights.
Filed in federal court in El Paso, Texas, the complaint targets Camp East Montana, a sprawling tent facility on the Fort Bliss military base. The camp, which has been operating since last August, was rapidly erected by the Trump administration as part of a broader push to expand immigration detention. With an average daily population of around 2,500 detainees this fiscal year and a capacity of up to 5,000, the site has quickly become emblematic of the Trump-era crackdown — and the surge in deaths inside detention centers nationwide, including a notable rise in suicides.
Four detainees are named as plaintiffs — Gerald Akari Angye, Navdeep, Erik Ivan Rodriguez Flores, and a pseudonymous individual identified as ZOR — suing on behalf of themselves and all current and future civil detainees held at the camp. The legal action, brought by a coalition including the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, the Texas Civil Rights Project, and the law firm Farella Braun + Martel LLP, alleges that the facility has become notorious for “flagrant human rights abuses.”
The 78-page complaint details a litany of abuses: “abhorrent medical and mental health care,” including for detainees with chronic conditions such as cancer and HIV; “inappropriate use of force”; “indiscriminate use of solitary confinement” to punish and silence victims of guard abuse; “terrible, rotten, spoiled and inadequate” food; outbreaks of disease including measles and tuberculosis; “unsanitary living conditions”; and “sexual harassment by guards.”
Plaintiff Angye, a Cameroonian asylum-seeker who said he previously endured torture in his home country, described being “severely beaten” by guards after insisting on speaking with a lawyer before signing documents. He said he ended up in a hospital and needed a wheelchair, then was placed in an isolated cell upon returning to the camp, and continues to cough up blood due to dust. “I never thought I would experience such severely violent treatment by guards here in the United States of America,” he said in a statement.
The lawsuit also alleges that guards frequently subject detainees to non-consensual sexual touching during pat-down searches, and that the camp’s tents are perpetually filled with the smell of urine, feces, and body odor because of cramped, filthy conditions. Detainees report deteriorating mental health, with many feeling dehumanized and contemplating suicide, yet receiving “no meaningful and consistent psychological support,” according to the suit. Some detainees, the complaint adds, have asked to be deported just to escape the conditions, abandoning decades-long ties to families in the U.S.
While only about 20% of those held at Camp East Montana have a criminal background — immigration violations are often civil offenses — the lawsuit argues that the punitive conditions are “by design,” intended to terrorize immigrants and deter them from pursuing legal claims to remain in the country.
The lawsuit names as defendants the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its secretary, Markwayne Mullin; ICE and its acting director, Todd Lyons; local ICE officials in El Paso; the Pentagon; and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The complaint alleges violations of the Fifth Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act.
DHS spokespersons have previously dismissed allegations of poor conditions at Camp East Montana as “unequivocally false,” despite well-documented reports from journalists and advocacy groups. The Guardian has reached out to DHS and ICE for comment on the new lawsuit.
“Camp East Montana is a civil rights catastrophe,” said Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project, in a statement. Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said the suit seeks accountability for “those whose lives have been lost and detainees who have been subjected to outrageous conditions, complete lack of medical care, and stripped of their dignity without a second thought.”
The lawsuit comes amid growing scrutiny of the Trump administration’s rapid detention expansion, with critics arguing that the agency has gutted oversight while pouring billions of taxpayer dollars into new facilities. At least three deaths have been reported at Camp East Montana in less than a year of operation, underscoring what advocates call a systemic crisis.
Additional reporting by Joanna Walters.