Nine in Ten Detainees at America's Largest ICE Camp Report Beatings, Watchdogs Find

FORT BLISS, TX - JANUARY 23, 2025: (EDITOR'S NOTE: This Handout image was provided by a third-party organization and may not adhere to Getty Images' editorial policy.) In this handout provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, illegal immigrants prepare to board a C-17 Globemaster III assigned to the 60th Air Mobility Wing for a removal flight at Fort Bliss, Texas, on Jan. 23, 2025. Under the direction of U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Transportation Command is supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement removal flights by providing military airlift. (Credit: Dept. of Defense photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Nicholas J. De La Pena)

Almost everyone interviewed for a new investigation into the country's biggest immigration lockup told researchers the same thing: they were hit by a guard, or they watched a guard hit someone else. That's the central finding of an 84-page report released July 15 by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU, and it lands on top of nearly a year of prior warnings about Camp East Montana, the tent complex the government built on the Army's Fort Bliss post outside El Paso.

Inside the Investigation