This article was co-published with ProPublica, a nonprofit news organization that examines abuses of power. Sign up for ProPublica’s Big Story magazine to get news items like this in your inbox as soon as they are published.
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Editor’s note: This article includes details on murder and attempted murder, as well as methods employed.
About a fortnight after Camp East Montana, an multiculturalism detention facility in El Paso, Texas, started letting people building themselves, an emergency call was made about a defendant trying to harm himself. It was 2: 50 p. m. on Friday, Sept. 12.
A nurse told the controller,” We have a client in holding who claims to have swallowed some foreign objects and has refused our basic medical care here.” In the background, you can learn one yelling and moaning.
He is currently unable to communicate and rolling on the floor in terrible pain while holding his stomach, the nurse continued. A primary X-ray was performed, and a foreign thing was discovered. We simply need to transport him to the doctor closest so that they can check whether the item is now in his program and perhaps have it excavated.
I’ve been covering Camp East Montana for a while. It was intended to serve as a model for how the Trump administration would bring out mass deportations because it is situated on desolate military lands. Rather, it served as an illustration of what could go bad. Despite accusations of brutal conditions and misuse, which Department of Homeland Security officials have called” absolutely fake,” it continues to exist. According to The Associated Press, ICE intends to maintain operation at least through 2027.
Three people died at Camp East Montana between December 2025 and January 2026, making it one of the nation’s most deadly confinement facilities at the time.
Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Caribbean regional with a history of mental illness, was the subject of my research into the Jan. 3 death of one of those people, according to ProPublica and The Texas Tribune in July. He was killed after arguing with guards over his medicine, and a medical examiner declared Lunas Campos ‘ death crime. Initial reports that he had been in health distress were made by the Trump administration, but after Department of Homeland Security officials claimed that guards had used force to prevent him from killing himself.
Here are a few tools if you or someone you know needs assistance:
Visit the 988-888 number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
To achieve a crisis counselor, word the Crisis Text Line at 741741 from anywhere in the United States.
Lunas Campos was detained at Camp East Montana, but we discovered that he had constantly expressed concerns about his mental wellness. Despite constantly claiming to be working in this area, records show that staff didn’t move him to a facility where he could be cared for better.
I was interested in learning more about how the hospital was handling these situations. I spoke with workers, government officials with contacts with the service, prisoners, doctors, and activists who had spent time inside the detention center after receiving recordings of more than 160 emergency calls.
I inquired with Government about some of the 911 calls and how I reported them. The facility offers” extensive medical services, including mental health services,” according to a director who declined to comment on the specific issues raised in the calls. According to the director, if the defendant needs a higher level of health maintenance, they are referred to local emergency service as needed. The official added that the care they receive while in captivity is the best they’ve ever received in their lives, according to the official.
I want to discuss some of those 911 names with you now. They provide a view into what’s happening in a position writers don’t have access to, even though it may be hard to listen to or read on. Names and my inspection reveal problems in responding to medical and mental health emergencies that go beyond those experienced by one person. ( Take note that some recordings were edited to remove lengthy periods of silence. )
Oct. 12, 2025:” They will not offer them health care.”
Some were becoming so hungry that they were having friends and family members call 911 to request medical assistance on their behalf two weeks after Camp East Montana began holding prisoners. On October 12, a North Texas resident called three days to request emergency maintenance for his kidney stones from his companion.
Why doesn’t the hospital call? the user asked.
” Because they don’t care,” They are uninterested in any of the inmates. They don’t worry, they won’t offer them health care. He dislikes visiting the doctor. Therefore, it is no joke when he says he is in emerging problems at a level of 10 out of 10 and needs to go to the emergency room. It has got to be very, very serious.
A 32-year-old Cuban man identified by a surname, Xavier, who fits the profile of the person with kidney stones, claimed in a statement to lawyers that he had taken a hunger strike because he had never received any information about his situation or a judge date. He claimed that being present makes him feel tortured. I feel both emotionally and physically finished with this practice. At this location, I don’t feel like I can last for another fortnight. They behave of creatures around us.
Nov. 2, 2025:” We don’t have any hydrogen for her”.
In some of the call-in emergencies, the health professionals complained about how little they could do for their clients.
A caregiver at the center dialed 911. She claimed to have a 46-year-old COVID-19 patient who was having trouble breathing and consuming less air. The issue is that we don’t have any air for her, particularly if she begins to desaturate yet more, she tells the controller. She simply doesn’t look great.
” OK, please let me ask for assistance, please.” Only be patient with me, the technician says to her.
Later in the call, the nurse details that she has been ill for the past few days and that she has requested that the clinic have her checked out. She was only brought in now,” Bless her heart,” so I’m only concerned about her.
Feb. 28, 2026:” Was this sudden or purposeful”?
Three people had died at Camp East Montana by the end of February. The first was Francisco Gaspar-Andres, a 48-year-old Guatemalan person who passed away from liver and kidney malfunction on December 3, 2025. Finally, on January 3, Lunas Campos passed away. More than two weeks later, ICE reported that Victor Manuel Daz, a 36-year-old Nicaraguan who had been detained during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, had been discovered unconscious and tied to a piece of cloth around his neck. His examination has not been made people.
The 911 calling remained on call.
” OK, we have a man who overdoses.” On February 28, a caregiver told an emergency worker that he was a detainee.
They were unaware of the 60-year-old gentleman who had just arrived at Camp East Montana or of what he had taken about an hour prior, she said. Someone had witnessed him “popping supplements” and stumbling about.
” This was done by accident or by design”? the user asked.
” Intentional,” she said.
