Detainees Sue ICE Over ‘Horrific’ Conditions at Texas Tent Camp

Four immigrant detainees filed a federal class-action lawsuit on May 30 against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), alleging human rights abuses, severe medical neglect, and inhumane living conditions at Camp East Montana — the largest immigration detention facility in the United States. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, represents the first legal challenge against the sprawling tent camp on the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas.

The Facility and Its Troubled History

Camp East Montana was hastily constructed and opened in August 2025 on land formerly used to intern Japanese Americans during World War II. Located in the Chihuahuan Desert, the facility consists of hardened tents with a capacity of up to 5,000 detainees. It currently houses approximately 2,500 to 3,000 people on any given day, according to NPR.

Since opening, the facility has been plagued by crisis. At least three detainees have died, including Gerald Lunas Campos, a Cuban national whose death was ruled a homicide by asphyxia. A measles outbreak infected 14 detainees in February 2026, temporarily closing the facility to visitors. In February, ICE’s own Office of Detention Oversight conducted a congressionally mandated inspection and found 49 violations of national detention standards — the highest number found in any inspection that fiscal year. The next highest was 13.

What the Lawsuit Alleges

The 78-page complaint, filed by the ACLU, ACLU of Texas, Texas Civil Rights Project, Human Rights Watch, and the law firm Farella Braun + Martel LLP, details a litany of abuses. According to the ACLU, detainees are subjected to:

• Severe medical neglect, including failure to provide timely medications for HIV, cancer, and diabetes
• Violent uses of force by guards, including beatings that have required hospitalization
• Indiscriminate use of solitary confinement to punish detainees who request basic needs
• Inadequate and rancid food — reportedly two pieces of bread, a slice of ham or bologna, a slice of cheese, and a cookie for all three meals
• Unsanitary living conditions with a constant odor of urine and feces
• Environmental hazards, including dust storms entering through gaps in tent walls

Personal Accounts from Detainees

Gerald Akari Angye, a named plaintiff and former high school teacher from Cameroon who fled after being kidnapped and tortured amid a separatist conflict, alleges he was severely beaten by guards for insisting on speaking with an attorney before signing documents. He required hospitalization and a wheelchair, then was placed in solitary confinement for 15 days.

“No human being should ever have to go through this,” Angye said in a statement. “I have already experienced torture in my home country of Cameroon and I never thought I would experience such severely violent treatment by guards here in the United States of America.”

Another plaintiff, identified only as Navdeep, a former mail handler with no criminal history, said dirty toilet water flowed into his sleeping area, he wore the same clothes for three weeks, and he experienced breathing problems from excessive dust. “We could die here, and it feels like no one here would care,” he said, as reported by the Texas Tribune.

DHS Response

The Department of Homeland Security has vigorously denied the allegations. DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told NPR that claims of inhumane conditions are “categorically false,” stating that “ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.” A DHS spokesperson told The Guardian that “no detainees are being beaten or abused.”

Contracting Controversy and Broader Context

The lawsuit comes amid mounting scrutiny of the facility’s operations. The original prime contractor, Acquisition Logistics LLC, was awarded a contract worth up to $1.3 billion despite having no prior experience in detention operations. ICE replaced the contractor with Amentum Services on March 12, 2026, under a nearly $453 million no-bid contract, as reported by the Associated Press.

The lawsuit also situates Camp East Montana within a broader pattern of immigration enforcement expansion. The complaint notes that the facility is “part of a broader effort by ICE to ramp up enforcement across the country, using increasingly aggressive tactics, while simultaneously expanding its detention network, pouring tens of billions of taxpayer dollars into new facilities.” More than two dozen people have died in ICE custody since October 2025, with deaths occurring at an average of one every six days.

Legal and Political Implications

Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project, called Camp East Montana “nothing short of a civil rights catastrophe.” The lawsuit seeks class-action status, which if granted would cover all current and future detainees at the facility.

Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), a leading critic of the facility, told El Paso Matters that “ICE is completely uninterested in really creating any change or holding the contractor accountable.” The lawsuit alleges violations of the Fifth Amendment right to due process and the Administrative Procedure Act.

What’s Next

The court must now decide whether to certify the class action. Meanwhile, questions remain about whether the new contractor will improve conditions, whether the deaths at the facility will result in criminal charges, and how this lawsuit will affect broader immigration detention policy. The case, Akari Angye et al v. ICE, marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing legal battle over immigration detention conditions in the United States.