"Can't get sunlight for over a month" "Sewage from bathroom flows into room"

“When you come in here, you can’t go back. You can either be deported or you die.” Javier, an immigrant, said he was told by a guard when he entered the detention facility, Camp East Montana, in El Paso, Texas. He recalled that he “experienced the worst racism in this detention center.”

Opened in August last year in the Texas desert, this detention center is notorious for being one of the largest and most deplorable U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities not only in Texas but also across the United States.

A class-action lawsuit filed by the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) against Camp East Montana, which was obtained by Hankyoreh, revealed the harsh realities of the detention center.

A detainee, Navdeep, testified that he had to wear the same clothes for three weeks and that sewage from the toilets flowed into his sleeping quarters. He had to drink dirty water without a cup.

Another detainee, Ivan Rodriguez, said he spent 23 hours a day in a windowless tent during his detention period.

There have been cases of death. On January 3 and 14, Campos, a Cuban national, and Diaz, a Nicaraguan national, who were detained here, died.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement death report did not specify the cause of Campos’ death but noted that he had experienced psychological distress, including multiple attempts at self-harm.

Diaz took his own life.

Charlotte Weiss, the attorney leading the class-action lawsuit, told Hankyoreh that “being locked up in such an environment every day can lead to mental deterioration, and you no longer feel like a human being.”

She added that “without meaningful and consistent psychological support, it can lead to considering suicide.”

A report on the detention center by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also includes a case that proves this.

Ismael, 28, from Honduras, stated that while being detained for five months, he experienced inhumane conditions that led to depression and suicidal thoughts.

He said there were days when he did not see sunlight for over a month, and there was inadequate ventilation and no basic hygiene products such as soap.

Ismael said, “Sometimes, looking at my bed sheets, I thought it would be easier to hang myself than to endure this torture.

It’s hard to describe the feeling, but it was like I was forgotten.”

There have also been reports of detention center staff routinely assaulting detainees and denying them medical services.

Over 70 people have lived in a cramped and unsanitary tent structure, and there have been instances where sewage overflowed from toilets and showers into the dining area.

The overcrowding issue is linked to the “profits” of detention facilities.

Many detainees are subcontracted to facilities run by private correctional companies or local government prisons, and many contracts between these facilities and Immigration and Customs Enforcement include a “minimum guaranteed population” clause.

If the number of detainees decreases, the facility’s operating profit decreases, and they need to maintain a certain number of detainees to make a profit.

Human rights groups are demanding the closure of Camp East Montana, where detainees continue to die due to poor conditions.

However, on the 28th of last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement extended the contract for the Montana detention facility until September 30 next year.

The Associated Press reported that the contracted operator will receive $1.2 billion (approximately 1.7 trillion won) in operating costs by next September.