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Detainees Sue ICE Over Deaths, Measles Outbreak at Camp East Montana

Aug 2025·Location: Fort Bliss, TX

Detainees Sue ICE Over Deaths, Measles Outbreak at Camp East Montana
Photo via The New Yorker

The Trump Administration opened Camp East Montana, the largest immigrant detention facility in the country, at Fort Bliss military base in West Texas in August 2025. Detainees initially arrived at an active construction site with non-functioning toilets, sporadic running water, and no outdoor recreation, and ICE withheld facility location information from families and lawyers. In May 2026, the ACLU, ACLU of Texas, Texas Civil Rights Project and a law firm sued ICE, citing at least three detainee deaths including a homicide, a nearly monthlong measles outbreak, and nearly 50 detention standards violations found by ICE's own inspectors. The groups also allege medical neglect, physical and sexual abuse by officers, and denial of meaningful attorney access; ICE replaced the facility's prime contractor in March 2026, but advocates say conditions have continued to deteriorate, while DHS has called the allegations categorically false.

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