A group of women detained in a sprawling immigration detention facility in West Texas, have told Newsweek of unsanitary, overcrowded and restrictive conditions inside a tent complex with no natural light, limited medical care, and frequent confrontations with guards.
Three women detained at Camp East Montana, along with another who was recently deported from the site, gave accounts—via audio recordings and handwritten statements obtained by Newsweek—of life inside the facility between September 2025 and January 2026. Two said they hold green cards, giving them permanent residency in the United States.
The site located at an Army installation in Fort Bliss near El Paso currently the largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center, in terms of number of detainees, in the U.S., according to nonprofit analysts TRAC.
It opened with capacity for 1,000 in August 2025, and has expanded to currently hold more than 2,700, TRAC data shows. Officials have said capacity could rise to 5,000.
Lugeidys Coronel, 24, told Newsweek, poor sanitation left her with an ulcer in her intimate area. “Here they treat us like animals,” she said in a written statement in Spanish.
Yajaira Porras Medina, 32, said hygiene supplies such as tampons were unavailable for days, mold was visible in showers, and guards verbally harassed detainees.
Kommaly Keopatthavong, who has since been deported, said in a written statement that detainees had been left “super cold” and recalled one moment when detainees asked for more heat but instead a guard “turned up the air conditioner” to make it cooler.
Charity Grace Mukamuri, 43, said there was no access to natural light and a guard had told her she would “never be allowed to talk to my attorney.”
She also detailed how detainees were given extra supplies, such as underwear and shampoo, a week before a member of Congress visited the site on November 24. “The culture of abuse in this place is one that runs from the top down,” she told Newsweek.
The women said they were speaking out to raise awareness and call for an independent investigation into conditions.
Newsweek contacted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment on January 16.
The DHS has disputed allegations of systemic violations and said the facility complies with ICE’s national detention standards.
The federal contract to build and manage Camp East Montana was awarded to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a Virginia-based small business that had no experience running a detention facility under a contract managed by the Army, records show.
Newsweek contacted Acquisition Logistic for comment on January 23.
Why It Matters
The accounts raise further questions about practices at Camp East Montana, as the administration expands capacity to carry out President Donald Trump’s signature deportation program.
Three migrants have died at the $1 billion facility at Army installation Fort Bliss, located near El Paso, since it was opened in August 2025 to aid the Trump administration’s nationwide mass deportation plan. The causes of two deaths are under investigation.
Emergency responders logged about 90 calls to 911 from facility between August 17 and December 1—the equivalent of about five per week—including urgent crises for chest pain, seizures, fainting, and suicide attempts, according to call logs obtained by El Paso Times.
The number of people in immigration detention in the U.S. is at an all-time high, according to ICE data. It shows that as of December 15, 2025, ICE held about 73,000 people. The Trump administration has said it aims to raise capacity above 100,000 in 2026.
What To Know
Inside the facility, there are tents with metal frames wrapped in thick plastic and divided internally by wooden walls that stop just short of the ceiling, according to Mukamuri, who said she lived in Oklahoma for the last 24 years.
Each tent contains “pods”—wooden enclosures without windows lined with rows of metal bunk beds—where up to 72 people sleep, she said.
“The best way to describe it is like a wooden box wrapped in plastic. And there is no access to natural light. There are no windows. There are no external doors that go directly outside. We cannot see the sun or the sky. There’s no air circulation in the room,” she said in an audio recording shared with Newsweek. Yard access was extremely limited, she said.
“We can go for a stretch of days, anywhere from two and as long as 15 days straight without seeing outside… and it was very cold,” Mukamuri said. “It’s freezing cold… you have one thin blanket, one thin sheet to cover yourself, and another sheet on the mattress.”
Porras Medina said approximately 40 women were kept in a single holding cell, many on the floor with only blankets to keep warm.
When Keopatthavong arrived at Camp East Montana on December 12, she said she slept on the cold floor without blankets or adequate clothing.
“We kept begging that we needed to use the restroom and that we were hungry,” she told Newsweek in a written statement. “When we asked the guard to turn on the heater, he then turned up the air conditioner instead. We were super cold, and we asked if they could turn it off, but we were ignored. So we gave up.”
Clogged Toilets, No Tampons, Blood on Walls
Mukamuri and Porras Medina told Newsweek of leaking showers, clogged toilets overflowing, and black mold growing into wooden walls.
Mukamuri, who was moved to the site in October, said detainees lacked access to basic hygiene supplies such as razors, shampoo, and toilet paper. Sewage and human waste sometimes backed up into living areas, she said.
“The showers, they leak. And so there’s so much mold and mildew that has grown. You can smell it as you’re walking in. The toilets sometimes overflow. It gets clogged, and there’s a lot of moisture. You can smell it. Some of the wood is starting to grow black mold because, again, the walls are made out of wood.”
“In some parts you actually can see blood on the walls, there’s human blood,” she added.
Lugeidys Coronel, who has been detained at Camp East Montana since November 20, 2025, said she also witnessed mold in the showers, which caused foot fungus outbreaks, and said detainees were given used clothing, including three uniforms, three bras, three panties, and three pairs of socks, some of which were stained.
She said she spent seven days under treatment for an ulcer in her intimate area due to poor hygiene.
In a written account, Porras Medina, who said she has held a green card since 1998 and arrived at Camp East Montana on December 11, said she raised concerns to facility staff and officers at Camp East Montana. about privacy, hygiene, and medical care.
Hygiene supplies such as tampons were unavailable for days, cameras were positioned directly in view of toilets, and she also witnessed mold in the showers, she said. She also alleged that staff refused to complete medical refusal forms correctly.
Rotten Food
Three of the detainees alleged the site served moldy bread, rotten fruit, and expired items that made people sick. Some stopped eating altogether, she said, while others ate because hunger leaves no choice, even when it causes nausea and stomach pain afterward.
Mukamuri, Medina, and Lugeidys Coronel described officers shrugging off complaints, reportedly saying, “That’s all we have.”
“Sometimes we spend days without eating, and we can’t stay quiet. We have rights that are being violated. Here they treat us like animals,” Coronel told Newsweek in a written statement in Spanish.
Keopatthavong said her repeated requests for food, water, and restroom access, received delayed or minimal responses.
Some detainees had been in the cell for up to three days without water, food, or access to showers, Porras Medina said. “This place needs to be shut down,” she told Newsweek.
‘We Had an Early Christmas’
Staff only cleaned thoroughly when preparing for visits by officials, Mukamuri said.
Texas Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar’s visited the facility on November 24.
Asked about the visit, Mukamuri said: “A week before that, all of a sudden, we had access to everything. They brought extra uniforms, extra underwear, extra socks, extra shirts, and extra shampoo. We were even joking that we had an early Christmas.”
Escobar issued a statement following her visit, saying “Issues persist with rotten food, inconsistent access to necessary medications, lack of regular access to recreational areas, and inconsistent laundry and cleaning services for uniforms.”
Newsweek has contacted Congresswoman Escobar’s office for comment.
Verbally Harassed by Guards
Three of the women—Mukamuri, Coronel, and Medina—said officers had told them they have “no rights” in detention.
Medina said guards verbally harassed detainees, including yelling and name-calling. Coronel said one guard yelled at and punished those who spoke out. Mukamuri said officers verbally abused detainees and referred to them as “bodies.”
Mukamuri also alleged that guards laughed as other detainees screamed and threatened her, and showed favoritism in “privileges” such as tablet access and TV time. Some guards referred to themselves as “military ICE,” she said but had no knowledge of immigration law.
Mukamuri said she faced repeated obstacles in accessing confidential calls with her attorney, writing that staff screamed in her face, telling her that speaking to her lawyer was “a privilege” and that she would “never be allowed to talk to my attorney.”
She alleged that staff deliberately provided incorrect Zoom links for scheduled legal calls and falsely reported that her attorney had not appeared.
Mukamuri said grievances she filed went largely unaddressed or received delayed responses that were unclear or did not make sense. She did not provide specifics.
Medina and Mukamuri said that access to supplies and visitation was inconsistently managed, and they were sometimes denied the chance to meet with visitors because required forms were only available in Spanish.
Mukamuri said she repeatedly requested an English version of a form to allow a visitor access, so she could understand and sign it. None was provided, she said, recalling being told, “If you did not sign the release, then you don’t get to talk to her.”
Spanish-speaker Porras Medina also highlighted communication and language barriers. Many officials at the camp did not speak Spanish, she said, and provided confusing or misleading information about case status or voluntary deportation payments.
She said many detainees struggled to understand official forms and communications, leaving some feeling pressured to sign documents they did not fully comprehend.
Porras Medina also alleged that detainees had limited access to mail despite official policies entitling detainees to three stamped envelopes per week.
According to the 2025 ICE National Detention Standards, facilities must provide a government‑paid postage allowance for indigent detainees, allowing at least three pieces of general correspondence and five pieces of special or legal mail per week, and must provide writing materials and envelopes at no cost.
“They are violating our constitutional rights, human rights. These conditions are horrific,” she said. “It makes me very sad and emotional as well as angry. We want justice.”
The detainees also criticized medical care. Mental health care largely consists of medication without counseling. Mukamuri said, “They heavily medicate people… like a zombie,” while Kommaly Keopatthavong reported waiting weeks for her Zoloft. Medina added that follow-up mental health care was delayed for weeks.
‘We kept begging.‘
Keopatthavong’s account also raised concerns about confusion detainees faced during deportation transfers.
On December 14, she and two other women were designated as a “kickback” because a flight to Laos was full. They spent hours in airport holding areas without food, water, restroom access, or heat, she said.
Upon returning to the facility, staff initially refused to provide food, telling detainees they had “just arrived.” Blankets, clothing, and meals were provided only after she insisted and highlighted her medical needs, she said.
Throughout her stay, Keopatthavong said she repeatedly requested mental health medications for anxiety, PTSD, and depression. She said she waited weeks for Zoloft.
“I begged for my mental health medications for anxiety, PTSD, depression,” she said.
In a written account she described multiple delays and confusion around scheduled flights, with transfers canceled or missed due to the facility’s organizational issues.
Keopatthavong also reported long waits for sick calls, up to three to five days. Mental health care, she said, consisted of medications prescribed without proper evaluation, including sleep aids for detainees who did not need them.
She described the facility as disorganized and “inhumane.”
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