Summary
Federal inspectors found dozens of violations of national detention standards at Camp East Montana, ICE’s largest immigration detention facility in Texas, according to a report released after a three-day inspection in February. The inspection by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Detention Oversight, which Congress requires, documented 49 deficiencies that the report said involved detention-standard or policy violations that could expose detainees to unsafe conditions.
The report was released after a shift in operations at the El Paso-area facility that opened last summer. Camp East Montana was built quickly and started operating without the Office of Detention Oversight having previously issued that kind of public report, the report said.
Attorney Randall Kallinen, who represents the family of a 36-year-old detainee who died there in January, called the findings “scathing” and said, “Camp East Montana gets an F.” Kallinen said the situation is “very dangerous,” adding that detainees faced risks tied not only to excessive force but also to “improper or negligent medical care and mental health care,” as well as danger from other detainees.
The ICE oversight report described deficiencies from the period when the camp’s operations were under the prime contractor, Acquisition Logistics LLC. ICE data through Feb. 5 showed that Camp East Montana had been the largest detention site, housing nearly 3,000 detainees per day, most of them men who had not been convicted of crimes, the report and related coverage said.
Camp East Montana’s contractor change came amid heightened scrutiny. The inspection report arrived as ICE moved last month to replace Acquisition Logistics LLC, and Amentum Services took over operations March 12. A federal database listed Amentum’s nearly $453 million contract as no-bid and set it to run through Sept. 30.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat who said she has toured and met with detainees at the facility several times, said the inspection findings were “a drop in the bucket of what is so profoundly wrong with that facility.” Escobar said detainees had consistently complained of medical neglect and other problems and raised the question of whether conditions were intentionally maintained “to pressure detainees to agree to self-deport,” adding, “ICE is completely uninterested in really creating any change or holding the contractor accountable.”
The report detailed a series of safety lapses during Acquisition Logistics’ tenure. Inspectors said camp staff did not document whether required checks were conducted to prevent self-harm and suicide, noting that 911 calls showed a major problem at the facility. It also said Acquisition Logistics refused to provide information about staffing levels to ICE, which the report said made it impossible to determine whether staffing was sufficient for security, including an instance in which a detainee escaped when no staff member was assigned to watch perimeter fences.
Beyond staffing and incident documentation, inspectors said tools and equipment were “unsecured and unaccounted for throughout the facility,” and that staff did not maintain an accurate inventory of ammunition. The report also said security guards who used and witnessed force and restraints, including handcuffs, failed to file required written reports in some cases, and that supervisors did not document their observations and that staff did not always record or preserve video. Inspectors further said the facility did not review incidents afterward to evaluate whether chemical agents or other force were used appropriately.
On medical issues, the report said medical staff failed to isolate a detainee who had symptoms consistent with tuberculosis, which spreads through the air, and did not notify ICE. The report also said the camp responded slowly to detainee grievances about medical care, taking between six and 14 business days to respond to complaints, though it also said the camp was not rated as failing outright—giving an “acceptable/adequate” rating and recommending that ICE work with the new contractor “to resolve the deficiencies that remain outstanding.”
The report also pushed back on one common complaint from detainees that food portions were too small, saying the food service program provided certification from a dietitian that the “average daily caloric provision of the menu” met federal recommendations. An ICE spokesperson said the new contract would result in improved medical care, more staff on site, and stricter oversight by ICE.
The inspection results came as the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, is pausing the purchase of warehouses intended to house up to 7,000 or more immigrants at a single location, according to coverage of the agency’s broader detention expansion planning.