“You’re Only Getting Out Deported or Dead”
www.hrw.org
The 84-page report, “‘You’re Only Getting Out Deported or Dead’: Abusive US Immigration Detention at Ft. Bliss,” documents conditions at the largest immigration detention facility in the United States. The detention camp has the capacity to hold up to 5,000 people and consists of five “soft-sided” tent-like structures that house detained people in penned enclosures. Inside, detainees said they were forced to live in filthy and cramped conditions with up to 72 people housed in each pod. Human Rights Watch found evidence of punitive immigration enforcement practices, including cruel, degrading, and inhumane detention conditions; excessive force by guards; failures to provide medical and mental health care; coercive deportation practices; and systemic barriers to legal representation.

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/49735190

Camp East Montana is the nation’s largest immigration detention center, with the current capacity to hold up to 5,000 people.[1] It is located on the grounds of Fort Bliss, a US military base with headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Camp East Montana consists of five “soft sided” tent–like structures, which house detained people in cell-like pods.

Human Rights Watch and the ACLU found that people detained at Camp East Montana endured conditions of confinement that amounted to enforced disappearance, cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment, excessive use of force including one extrajudicial killing, life-threatening medical neglect, barriers to legal representation, and coercive third-country removals. Together, these abuses violate fundamental protections under US and international human rights law.

In interview after interview, detained people told Human Rights Watch that they were beaten by guards, denied necessary medical care, and prevented from contacting family members or lawyers. One woman told us guards and nurses denied her emergency medical care, and she is at risk of losing her vision permanently as a result. Another man said guards groped his testicles during beatings and placed him in solitary confinement arbitrarily. Many detainees told us facility guards denied them outdoor recreation for weeks at a time, in extreme cases leaving them without sunlight or any outdoor recreation for over a month.

Detained people described overcrowded housing areas, bathrooms covered in feces and urine, and living quarters flooded with dirty water and dust. They told us they developed infections and other health complications because the facility failed to clean living spaces, did not have adequate ventilation, and did not provide basic hygiene supplies, including soap and hand sanitizer.

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The abuses documented in this report occurred within the broader context of the US government’s expansion of immigration detention. Since the beginning of the second Trump administration, federal authorities have dramatically increased immigration arrests through workplace raids, neighborhood enforcement operations, traffic stops, and arrests at USCIS field offices, with the stated goal of expanding detention capacity on an unprecedented scale.

Many detained at Camp East Montana were arrested near their place of work or their homes, apprehended during enforcement operations, ICE raids, and traffic stops and other routine encounters with local law enforcement, including at USCIS Field Offices. One man told us police arrested him after his car was rear-ended by a driver who failed to stop for a traffic light.

Most of the people we interviewed said they had a valid work permit. When they presented their documents, arresting officers falsely told them that their work authorization did not establish legal presence in the US. Subsequently, most were taken to local jails or holding facilities, often violently, before being transferred by plane to Camp East Montana. Many told us they felt like they were kidnapped.

Detained people said they were held incommunicado after their arrest, unable to contact family members or attorneys. Department of Homeland Security systems, including the online Detainee Locator, often failed to indicate where they were being held and, in some cases, did not reflect that they were in detention at all. Family members searching for loved ones frequently received no meaningful information from DHS. In some of the cases documented by Human Rights Watch, these practices amounted to enforced disappearance under international human rights law.

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In April 2026, an ICE internal investigation identified violations of federal detention standards, including unreported uses of force, medical neglect, failures to conduct required suicide and wellness checks, inadequate sexual abuse prevention measures, unanswered grievances, and systemic failures to process detainee requests for assistance. This report’s findings corroborate many of these same patterns of government abuse.