Rep. Veronica Escobar, Democrat representing El Paso, attempted an oversight visit last month to Camp East Montana — the country's largest ICE detention center, a sprawling tent city on the Fort Bliss military base with capacity for 5,000 people. She was not allowed to speak with any detained immigrants. Surveillance footage she requested from two reported disturbances has not been provided. The administration, she told the Guardian, has "attempted to block congressional oversight." The blocking persists despite a federal judge ruling in December in favor of lawmakers who sued for access. Members of Congress have the legal authority to visit ICE facilities without prior notice and speak with detainees. The Trump administration has reportedly circumvented this by requiring lawmakers to submit detainee names and personal information in advance — a procedural wall that converts an open-access right into a gated permission system. DHS disputed Escobar's account, calling many oversight visits "a media act." Camp East Montana has been operational since last summer and immediately drew complaints. Two disturbances erupted within a single week in early September. On September 1, detained immigrants allegedly assaulted security staff. On September 7, roughly 130 detainees threw items, flipped furniture, disabled security cameras, and knocked down partitions between living pods. An ICE official called 911 during the second incident — a fact ICE apparently did not disclose to Escobar during her visit, and which was revealed by the El Paso Times. Three people have died in custody at the facility. One, a 55-year-old man, died in January after security guards beat him; his death was ruled a homicide. Human Rights Watch and other organizations have documented allegations of physical abuse, sexual harassment, inedible food, and medical neglect. An internal ICE inspection found deficiencies including problems with guards' use of force. A Government Accountability Office report identified problems with the facility's contract, construction, and conditions, issuing four recommendations that remain unresolved. The private contractor question is central. Acquisition Logistics, a small Virginia-based company, originally secured a nearly $1.3 billion contract to run the site. Amentum Services, a Maryland-based firm that had been a subcontractor, took over in April. Escobar argued the contractor, not taxpayers, should bear the costs of the disturbance damage: "These private contractors are making enormous sums of money. And frankly, there needed to be accountability." DHS responded that the facility "is upgrading" and that Amentum is providing "precise quality assurance." Amentum did not respond to requests for comment. The pattern extends well beyond one facility. The Guardian has reported on force feedings at other ICE detention centers in Texas. Escobar connected the situation to the broader expansion of immigration detention under the second Trump administration, fueled by what Republicans call the One Big Beautiful Bill. The structural dynamic is clear: rapid capacity expansion via private contractors operating tent facilities on military bases, with oversight mechanisms actively degraded. When an ICE official blamed the disturbances on detainees' nationality — "the Venezuelans are a difficult population" — it revealed something about institutional accountability culture. The facility has experienced a homicide by guards, repeated rights violations documented by multiple independent bodies, two riots in which the contractor lost control, and an administration that treats congressional oversight as an inconvenience to be managed rather than a constitutional function to be respected.
