EL PASO — Immigrants detained at Camp East Montana at Fort Bliss say they have been coerced by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to cross the border into the Mexican desert — even if they have no connection to Mexico — or be sent to jail in third countries, human rights groups allege in a letter to the federal border protection agency.
The facility has become a “human and civil rights catastrophe,” the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations said in the letter sent Monday to ICE and Fort Bliss officials. The organizations are calling for the camp to be shut down, alleging detained immigrants are subject to beatings and sexual abuse by officers, as well as medical neglect, hunger and insufficient food, and denial of access to attorneys.
