1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

Three deaths in 44 days at Camp East Montana, the massive ICE detention facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso, demand immediate action. Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, was found unconscious in his cell on January 14 and later pronounced dead in what ICE calls a "presumed suicide." Days earlier, a medical examiner planned to classify the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, as a homicide after determining his preliminary cause of death was "asphyxia due to neck and chest compression." An eyewitness reported seeing several guards choking him. A month before that, Francisco Gaspar-Andres, 49, died from what ICE attributed to "natural liver and kidney failure." This pattern of deaths is not coincidental. In September, ICE's own inspectors found at least 60 violations of federal standards at Camp East Montana, including employees failing to treat and monitor detainees' medical conditions and the center lacking safety procedures for detainees to contact their lawyers. The facility holds approximately 2,903 people and is operated by Acquisition Logistics LLC under a $1.24 billion contract despite the company having no listed experience running detention centers and its headquarters being listed as a Virginia residential address. These conditions contributed to 2025 becoming the deadliest year for immigrant detainees in ICE custody in more than two decades, with 32 deaths across all facilities. When a facility operated with profit margins as the priority rather than human dignity racks up three deaths in six weeks alongside dozens of federal violations, it has forfeited any claim to continue operating. I urge you to demand the immediate closure of Camp East Montana and a complete investigation into all three deaths. These are preventable tragedies occurring in a facility that should never have been awarded a billion-dollar contract in the first place. People in federal custody deserve basic safety and medical care.