More than 160 calls to 911 from the East Montana Camp, the immigrant detention center at Fort Bliss in El Paso, reveal serious medical and mental health emergencies that the staff could not adequately address, according to an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune published this Tuesday.
In that same facility, Cuban Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55 years old, died on January 3, and his death was later ruled a homicide by the county coroner of El Paso.
The recordings, obtained by journalist Perla Trevizo through public records requests, document cases ranging from detainees with suicidal thoughts to seriously ill individuals, for whom the center's staff acknowledged they lacked basic resources for care.
One of the calls occurred on September 12, 2025, just a month after the center began receiving detainees. A nurse requested an ambulance for a man who had ingested a foreign object, was experiencing suicidal thoughts, and was writhing in pain.
"At this moment, he cannot speak and is writhing on the ground in unbearable pain, clutching his stomach. We need to take him to the nearest hospital," he explained.
A month later, the partner of another detainee called 911 three times to seek medical attention for the man, who was suffering from kidney stones and described his pain at the highest level of intensity.
When the operator asked why the center itself did not request the ambulance, they replied: "Because they don't care. They don't care about any of the detainees. They don't provide them with medical attention."
Another call, made on November 2 by a nurse from the center, highlighted the limitations in treating a 46-year-old woman who was seriously ill with COVID-19.
"The problem is that we have no oxygen for her, especially if her saturation continues to drop. Her condition is very serious," warned the healthcare worker.
According to the investigation, the woman had been ill for days and had requested to go to the clinic without receiving attention initially.
The death of the Cuban Geraldo Lunas Campos
The revelations are particularly significant due to the death of Lunas Campos, a Cuban with a history of mental health issues who died following an altercation with guards related to his medication.
The county medical examiner of El Paso ruled it a homicide and determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation due to compression of the neck and torso.
The Trump administration initially reported that Lunas Campos had suffered a medical emergency. Subsequently, officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that the guards used force to prevent him from taking his own life.
ProPublica and The Texas Tribune also revealed that repeated requests had been made to transfer him to a facility with better mental health services, but the transfer never materialized.
The FBI has opened a criminal investigation into his death, and the Cuban's family filed a civil lawsuit in July against the guards and companies associated with the center's operation.
Lunas Campos was one of three immigrants who died in East Montana within just six weeks, between December 2025 and January of this year.
Moreover, a former detainee stated to Associated Press that he heard a guard say that he had contributed 500 dollars to an alleged bet among staff on which detainee might take their own life first.
The DHS dismissed criticisms regarding the conditions of the facility and assured that "comprehensive medical services, including mental health services," are provided there. It also stated that for many detainees, the care received "is the best they have ever received in their lives."
ICE plans to keep the East Montana Camp operational at least until September 30, 2027.
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