The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that officials were reviewing a contract for Camp East Montana, a detention center in El Paso that is facing growing scrutiny over its living conditions and is grappling with a measles outbreak.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security said officials were examining the center and that the department conducts rigorous inspections of facilities to “ensure they are meeting our high standards.”
“No decisions have been made related to contract extension, termination or award,” Lauren Bis, the spokeswoman, said in a statement.
The facility, called Camp East Montana, which is at the military base Fort Bliss, has been mired in controversy since it opened in August. Three people have died while in custody, including Geraldo Lunas Campos, a Cuban immigrant whose death was ruled a homicide by the county medical examiner.
Last week, state and federal officials said that 13 measles cases had been reported at the facility. Two lawyers who represent some of the detainees said the facility was under lockdown for quarantine, but neither homeland security nor ICE confirmed that.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has faced complaints of crowded and unsafe conditions at many detention facilities it oversees, including Camp East Montana. These facilities have been used to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
The Department of Homeland Security has previously rejected allegations that Camp East Montana’s conditions were poor, saying in September that detainees were properly fed and given medical care. Its construction was funded by a roughly $1.2 billion contract awarded last year to Acquisition Logistics, a Virginia-based company.
Representative Veronica Escobar, a Democrat who represents El Paso and has visited the detention center several times, has sent letters to top homeland security leaders demanding the facility be shut down. Ms. Escobar has said that detainees receive inadequate medical care and are served food that is rotten or frozen. Last week, two dozen members of Congress signed a letter calling for its closure.
“Camp East Montana should have never opened,” Ms. Escobar said in a statement on Wednesday, which she issued in response to a Washington Post article that said ICE was taking steps to close the facility. The New York Times has not independently verified any plans for an impending closure.
Ms. Escobar encouraged people to “remain vigilant” and said that even if the facility closes, El Paso could remain a central part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The Department of Homeland Security has bought a warehouse in Socorro, Texas, a city in El Paso County, which it plans to turn into a detention facility that could hold up to 8,500 detainees.
Pooja Salhotra covers breaking news across the United States.
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