Deaths and abuse reported at ICE's East Montana detention camp in Texas

Ricardo, who was expelled from the Mexican border and placed in the East Montana detention camp, witnessed the death of fellow inmate Geraldo, who had been denied his asthma inhaler for two days. When guards entered Geraldo's cell and restrained him, he shouted for air before collapsing, and a rescuer could not revive him; the autopsy listed asphyxiation as the cause of death. Randall Kallinen, an attorney for ICE detainees, says many prisoners have gone without food for two days, receive spoiled provisions, and suffer from insufficient medical attention, while sanitation failures leave toilets flooding dining areas.

Ricardo describes the facility as more akin to a torture camp than a detention center. The East Montana site is the largest and harshest of the ICE centers created during the Trump administration, and in a single year, 39 detainees have died across U.S. detention facilities.