The American Civil Liberties Union is filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over conditions at the controversial Camp East Montana migrant facility near El Paso, Texas, alleging that the site is turning into a “civil rights catastrophe.”
According to ABC News, civil rights organizations “are accusing Immigration and Customs Enforcement of subjecting immigrant detainees to wide-ranging ‘inhumane’ conditions and treatment, including physical abuse, sexual harassment, ‘abhorrent medical care,’ spoiled food, and inappropriate use of force” — all of which comes after a series of suspicious deaths at the facility.
Camp East Montana is a makeshift tent facility that was set up at the Fort Bliss military base. It is the largest migrant detention center in the United States, capable of holding up to 5,000 people.
Per the complaint filed by the ACLU, detainees “are confined to windowless enclosures in tents and suffer egregious physical abuse by guards; abhorrent medical and mental health care, including for people with chronic conditions like cancer and HIV; indiscriminate use of solitary confinement to punish and silence victims of guard abuse; and other flagrant constitutional violations, including exposure to measles, tuberculosis, and other diseases.”
A spokesperson for the facility denied all the allegations, saying in a statement, “It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody.”
All of this comes amid reports that “Alligator Alcatraz,” another makeshift detention facility created independently from DHS by the state of Florida but once enthusiastically supported by the Trump administration, is shutting down amid ballooning costs that make the project unviable for DHS to assist with.
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