Men In ICE Detention Centers Say Guards Deny Them Basics Like Laundry and Medication

Detained immigrants in the U.S. — including some of the men who say they witnessed Texas guards suffocate Cuban detainee Geraldo Lunas Campos — say they’ve been denied clean clothing, showers, adequate food and medicine.

Dozens of men from several immigration detention camps across the Southwest have written letters and talked to NOTUS over the phone from behind bars in recent months. They were prompted by fellow detainees who have seen their accounts featured in this publication. Some of them allege that they continue to be mistreated by guards who act with even more impunity following Lunas Campos’ death — which a coroner ruled a homicide.

The abuses in detention are “punishment because we’re claiming our rights,” said Jesus Navea, a Cuban who described witnessing guards beat and strangle Lunas Campos, whom he considered a friend. The Department of Homeland Security has maintained Lunas Campos became violent after guards tried to intervene as Lunas Campos attempted to take his own life.

Navea and others say that’s not true and guards became overly aggressive with Lunas Campos because he had been asking for his medication.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s 2025 detention standards say that immigrants held at special management units “may shave and shower at least three times weekly and receive other basic services — such as laundry, clothing, bedding, and linen — equivalent to general population detainees and consistent with safety and security of the facility.” Detainees should also receive adequate food and health services.

However, according to Navea, an estimated 280 detainees at Camp East Montana, the relatively new federal detention facility inside the U.S. Army’s large military base at Fort Bliss in Texas, were denied towels for four days in late March — but still expected to bathe. He said staff later stopped delivering laundry bags, then scolded detainees for taking the initiative of washing the few clothes they had in the sinks and hanging them to dry on their bunk beds. Navea said he wore the same underwear for nearly a week. He said he considered all three incidents as acts of punishment for detainees who keep demanding better treatment.

“Everything they do here is to mistreat us, to make us suffer. And there’s no one to complain to. If we do, they punish us,” he said, adding that detainees have been directed instead to fill out electronic forms on a shared tablet. “They tell us to write it down on the tablet … and nothing happens.”

“If you complain and try to assert your rights, they charge you with … disrespecting an official and refusing to obey orders,” Navea said.

The Department of Homeland Security seemed to tacitly acknowledge there have been issues with the facility, noting that the government had recently hired a new firm to manage it.

“ICE is always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody,” it said in an unsigned statement. “Camp East Montana recently upgraded. Our new contractor will allow Camp East Montana to continue abiding by the highest detention standards WITH the ability to provide MORE medical care on-site. This contract also allows more on-site staff and a PRECISE quality assurance surveillance plan. ICE will have even more oversight of the contractors at this facility.”

The department pushed back on one specific accusation, stating, “At NO point has any detainee been denied laundry service. There have been no documented complaints or allegations.”

It’s been more than three months since news broke of Lunas Campos’ death at Camp East Montana on Jan. 3. ICE officials first said he died after attempting self-harm and that guards had tried to intervene. “Immediate attempts to de-escalate the situation were unsuccessful, resulting in spontaneous use of force to prevent Mr. LUNAS Campos from harming himself. Mr. LUNAS Campos became unresponsive,” ICE said in a statement at the time.

“All of that is a lie. It didn’t happen like that,” said Garit Reinier Hernandez, a Cuban detainee who witnessed the attack.

The El Paso County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, with the report stating a pathologic diagnosis of “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.” Three witnesses who spoke to NOTUS by phone said Lunas Campos had been begging for his medication for hours and tried to get the staff’s attention by kicking the door to his cell — only to get dragged out by four guards.

Two detainees who spoke to NOTUS described a guard telling Lunas Campos in Spanish, “Si sigues jodiendo, te vamos a amarrar de pata y mano y te vamos a apretar por el cuello hasta que te desmayas.” (“If you keep screwing around, we’re going to tie you up — hands and feet — and choke you until you pass out.”) They both said guards then followed through with their threat: beating him, shackling his entire body, then piling on top of him. Distraught detainees called the guards assassins, yelling “¡Asesinos!”

Antonio Frometa, a Cuban who remains at the military encampment, said they could hear the struggle outside their cell. He said Lunas Campos was pleading for the guards to not hit him, repeating, “¡No me den! ¡No me den!”

One witness said he hadn’t yet been questioned by law enforcement. A second detainee at Camp East Montana said he was escorted out of his cell and taken across the base to be interviewed by three law enforcement officers who refused to identify themselves. When he asked for his lawyer to be present, he said, the officers refused to question him.

“There were cameras in the cells and in the hallway. There were cameras everywhere,” Navea told NOTUS.

Although the FBI typically investigates abuse by other law enforcement agencies — and some detainees were under the impression that they were being questioned by FBI agents — DHS told NOTUS that ICE is conducting the inquiry on its own, calling it “still an active investigation.” That arrangement has drawn criticism, because ICE has repeatedly failed to disclose information about detainee deaths.

DHS stands by its initial description of the incident, telling NOTUS that Lunas Campos “violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life,” and that “during the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness.” In a statement, DHS directed attention to the man’s criminal record, noting that he had been convicted of weapon possession in 1998, petit larceny in 1999, sexual contact with a child in 2003 and a long list of other crimes.

Detainees at a second location, the Torrance County Detention Facility in New Mexico, wrote letters to NOTUS saying the circumstances that led to Lunas Campos’ death persist there too.

Miguel Angel Diaz Serena described being denied medical attention for six months until he vomited blood — and said that a subsequent hospital visit determined he had a fungal pulmonary infection and a possible cancer diagnosis. He said he was, after a biopsy operation, placed into a population with COVID-19 and other illnesses, in a cell where there were water leaks and mold. In a letter to NOTUS, six other detainees signed a declaration attesting to his claims.

DHS responded to these accusations by verifying some of Diaz Serena’s descriptions of coughing up blood but adding that he “admitted to smoking 1 to 1.5 packs of cigarettes a day for ten years” and “had not been taking his prescribed antibiotics” after being treated for possible pneumonia. The department noted he has continued to complain of lung pain and was given medication last month.

Braumer Rodriguez Sanchez, another detainee at that New Mexico center, described being denied pain medication for injuries he sustained being tortured in Venezuela. Similarly, his account is backed up in a letter with the signatures of 16 fellow detainees.

DHS confirmed that Rodriguez Sanchez “reported a history of fibromyalgia and chronic neck pain” but then claimed that “he REFUSED to sign the treatment forms.” The department also added that “on April 8, the illegal alien was seen for a sick call where available medication was discussed, but he became upset and left the appointment prior to completion.”

Faced with accusations of mistreatment, DHS countered that it takes better care of immigrant detainees than the Bureau of Prisons does for American citizens.

“As bed space has rapidly expanded, we have maintained higher standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens — including providing access to proper medical care,” DHS said. “For many illegal aliens this is the best healthcare they have received their entire lives.”

Still, lawmakers continue to voice concerns about conditions at ICE facilities. Last week, Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz spoke to reporters after taking an unannounced three-hour visit to the detention camp dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades, describing what she called “a very disturbing environment” of humid, caged dorms that smell like urine and are packed with men.

“Everything about this screams inhumane and unnecessary, and the cruelty is the point,” the congresswoman said Thursday.

Detainees who wrote to NOTUS provided copies of complaint forms and provided statements they hoped would generate more attention — even if some of them suspect they’ll face retribution for speaking out.

“Honestly, I know that they’ll punish me for talking,” Navea told NOTUS. “But sincerely ... someone needs to know the reality of what goes on here.”