Mia Tricarico
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Camp East Montana, the immigration detention facility on Fort Bliss, as been operating for more than a year. Tuesday, El Paso City Council unanimously voted to draft a resolution calling for the facility’s closure.
The 7-0 vote doesn’t mean the facility will close; the council said it wants to see it shut down.
El Pasoans took to the podium during public comment, alleging poor conditions at the detention facility.
Gilbert Perez said he had the opportunity to visit a replica. He said the facility served half-cooked food with maggots. A civil rights staff attorney alleged the food made a detainee sick.
“The food makes him vomit because often the food comes spoiled ,and individuals are not able to stomach the food that is given. He says that ‘I am a skeleton of the person that I was before detention,'” said Charlotte Weiss with the Texas Civil Rights Project.
City Representative Lily Limon shared quotes of how detainees described the camp. One called it a “graveyard of living people.”
Three detainees have died at the facility. Civil rights attorneys are suing Camp East Montana over the alleged poor conditions.
City representatives said Camp East Montana posed a public health risk to El Paso and lacks transparency about where taxpayer dollars go.
“This is over $1 billion in this facility. The choices that they’re making — to not feed people, to not clothe them appropriately, to not give them basic toiletries — those are choices when they have an over $1 billion budget. When we stay silent, we’re complicit and we have to call out what is wrong,” said City Rep. Josh Acevedo.
During the public comment period, one resident said the idea of a closure leaves unanswered questions.
Mary Holguin asked, “Where are they going to send these people, if they close it down?”
While a local city resolution can’t immediately shut down a federal facility, the council said Tuesday’s vote sends a strong message to the federal government.
ABC-7 has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to address the allegations about the council’s vote. It sent the following statement:
“The radical politicians on the El Paso City Council will not stop us from arresting and detaining illegal aliens who have no place in American communities. Our message remains: ICE is NOT slowing down.
These disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE smears are directly contributing to our officers facing a more than 1,600% increase in assaults, a 3,300% increase in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000% increase in death threats against them. Moreover, comparisons of illegal alien detention centers to internment camps used during World War II are deranged and lazy.
ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens. All detainees are provided with 3 meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap, and toiletries. Illegal aliens also have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers. Certified dieticians evaluate meals. In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.
It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, and mental health services as available, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. For many illegal aliens this is the best healthcare they have received their entire lives.
Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $3,000 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”
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