Congress’ Watchdog Finds Major Lapses in Oversight at ICE Facility

Congress’ watchdog identified serious oversight problems at the country’s largest immigration detention center, including unsanitary conditions and inadequate tuberculosis screenings and health assessments.

A new Government Accountability Office report follows an Immigration and Customs Enforcement inspection that found dozens of safety violations at Camp East Montana.

Three immigrants have died at the tent detention center near the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas, since it opened in August. City officials also reported two cases of tuberculosis and 18 COVID-19 cases earlier this year, The Texas Tribune reported.

“ICE did not identify these issues because it did not inspect the facility prior to housing detained noncitizens there, as required by ICE policy,” the report states. “After the facility opened, ICE reported additional problems, including gaps in medical services, the loss of a loaded firearm, and unsanitary conditions, among other issues.”

In March, the Trump administration dumped the contractor it had hired to run the facility, Acquisition Logistics LLC, which didn’t have experience operating detention centers before landing the $1.3 billion contract.

ICE repeatedly warned the contractor about problems, including a document in February that said evidence associated with the homicide of Geraldo Lunas Campos was missing or destroyed, according to the GAO report. ICE’s investigation of Campos’ death is on hold because of an ongoing criminal investigation.

A security guard at the detention center also lost a loaded gun in January that hadn’t been found as of March. ICE documented the contractor’s inadequate weapon control.

Democratic lawmakers Sens. Jack Reed (Rhode Island), Gary Peters (Michigan), and Dick Durbin (Illinois) and Rep. Bennie Thompson (Mississippi) requested the report from GAO.

Durbin called the report damning.

“We now know even more details of how dangerous and irresponsible the Trump Administration’s mass deportation campaign truly is,” he said in a statement. “Not only is the Administration often wrongly detaining people, those detained are experiencing conditions that shock the conscience.”

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.