Amnesty International report finds disregard for human rights in El Paso ICE facility

Yahoo

16-05-2025

Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The ICE immigration detention facility in El Paso is the site of human rights abuses, a new report from Amnesty International states.
Amnesty International researchers found evidence of systemic mistreatment of detainees, arbitrary detention and a disregard for international and U.S. human rights standards at ICE's El Paso Service Processing Center. Researchers also found a targeting of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act — a law from 1798 that the Trump administration is using to deport Venezuelan migrants they accuse of being gang members of Tren de Aragua — and a denial of due process for migrants in the facility.
'This [Trump] administration is detaining people and carrying out mass deportations without regard for human rights, dignity, or accountability,' Amy Fischer, Director of Refugee and Migrant Rights at Amnesty International USA, said in a news statement on the report. 'This is not a functional immigration policy — it's an all-out attack on immigrant communities where cruelty is used as a weapon to encourage people to give up their rights and self-deport.'
ICE defended the work of the agency in a lengthy statement to the El Paso Times. Leticia Zamarripa, the ICE spokeswoman for the El Paso facility, said that the agency prioritizes the health, safety and well-being of migrants detained in their facilities, as well as offers them medical and dental attention.
"ICE officials will conduct an internal review of Amnesty International's report to investigate the veracity of the allegations," Zamarripa said in the statement. "The day that Amnesty International representatives toured the El Paso Processing Center, no one voiced any questions or concerns regarding the allegations cited in the report."
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Detainees recounted to researchers a lack of humane conditions, including spoiled food, a lack of medical attention and physical abuse, including the use of solitary confinement. Detainees also told researchers there was a complete lack of access to legal services and information, and that there were fears for many Venezuelans of being deported to El Salvador.
"We just want a solution as fast as possible," one individual detained in the facility told researchers. "People don't sleep. It's cold at night. We do not get medicine. There is blood coming from my throat. Everyone has stomach issues because of the food and lack of nutrition. We have no access to clean water; it is hot and smells like chemicals."
International visited the center on Montana Avenue in April 2025, and interviewed 27 individuals detained at the site as well as other legal, humanitarian and social service providers and local organizations.
The ICE facility in El Paso has faced previous accusations of mistreatment of immigrants detained awaiting deportation. Eleven migrants went on a hunger strike in 2019 over conditions and were force-fed by agents at the facility, the El Paso Times reported.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, El Paso-D, has long spoken out about the conditions in ICE facilities. She did not immediately comment on the report, but brought up the issue in a House Appropriation Committee's hearing.
Escobar grilled Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons during a House Appropriation subcommittee on homeland security oversight hearing on Wednesday, May 14, for targeting immigrants with legal status and no criminal history as part of the Trump administration's deportation of immigrants.
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Escobar pointed out that nine people have died in ICE detention in 2025, including a Vietnamese migrant held in the El Paso facility on April 16. ICE issued a news release on April 18 on his death, saying Nhon Ngoc Nguyen, 55, died in a Long Term Acute Care Hospital in El Paso.
Escobar previously joined other congressional representatives in sending a letter to Kristi Noem, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, on May 12, stressing the rights of Congress to carry out oversight of detention facilities. The letter is in response to the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after he visited an ICE facility in New Jersey on May 10, along with three members of Congress, U.S. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver and Rob Menendez.
The Trump administration is seeking to increase the Department of Homeland Security's budget to $200 billion in order to carry out its goals of mass deportation and border security.
The proposed budget increase would raise DHS's budget to triple detention capabilities by $45 billion.
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The Trump administration has proposed building an immigrant detention facility on Fort Bliss land in El Paso to assist in deportation efforts.
Amnesty International, a global grassroots human rights organization, is opposed to increasing DHS's budget, as requested by the Trump administration.
'Congress should be saying no to more money to expand this cruel system,' said Fischer. 'No matter what President Trump says, the United States has an obligation to uphold the human rights of everyone within its borders. The violations we documented in El Paso, among so many others, must end now.'
Jeff Abbott covers the border for the El Paso Times and can be reached at:[e-mail]; @palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or @palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Amnesty International finds rights concerns in El Paso ICE facility