Camp East Montana will remain open, work with new provider to “improve” facilities, ICE says
Paul Schulz
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)confirmed to ABC-7 Tuesday morning that the Camp East Montana will remain open.
The spokesperson shared the following statement with ABC-7:
“Camp East Montana is NOT closing, quite the opposite. Rather, ICE has contracted with a new provider following Secretary Noem’s termination of the old contract inherited from the Department of War. 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.
This 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. Far from closing, Camp East Montana is upgrading.”
ABC-7 also spoke with the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), a migrant advocacy group and legal firm that has attorneys who have visited Camp East Montana multiple times since it opened in August of last year.
“Some detainees are not receiving the medication that they need at all or are receiving that medication late, which exacerbates their symptoms,” said staff attorney Charlotte Weiss. “Individuals are subject to excessive force, including when they ask for basic necessities such as prescription medication or food that is not spoiled; the quantity of food that individuals are given is about the size of a fist and the food, overwhelmingly, we’ve heard from individuals, causes them to vomit and to have diarrhea.”
Staff attorney Weiss said they’ve also been speaking with individuals for the last few months who have been subject to forced ‘third-country’ removals, which means that these individuals are being forced by the federal government or the government attempts to remove them to Mexico or to a country where they are not from and where they have no ties to, according to Weiss.
“I’ll start by reiterating that the ultimate thing that we want and that we need is for the facility to be shut down,” said staff attorney Weiss. “If the facility isn’t shut down, what is needed is for there to be no more use of third-country removals, which means that the government does not try to remove someone to Mexico who is not from there.”
“It’s also important that individuals receive adequate medical care, which means that once they request to speak with a doctor, they speak with the doctor immediately. It’s important for individuals to be given food that fills their stomach, that does not leave them hungry, and for them to be given food that does not make them sick,” attorney Weiss added.