One of ICE’s biggest detention facilities is plagued by problems

Summary

Podcast Summary: “One of ICE’s biggest detention facilities is plagued by problems”

Podcast: Consider This from NPR
Episode Date: September 22, 2025
Host: Ari Shapiro (with All Things Considered team)
Guest: Doug McMillan (Washington Post reporter), Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, Ricardo Quintana Chavez (former detainee)
Main Theme:
A deep dive into the conditions, oversight failures, and policy implications at Camp East Montana, an ICE detention facility at Fort Bliss, Texas—illuminating broader systemic issues with rapidly constructed immigration detention centers under the Trump administration.

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Episode Overview

This episode investigates the troubling conditions at Camp East Montana, one of the Trump administration’s largest ICE detention centers. With insights from lawmakers, a Washington Post investigation, and detainee testimony, NPR examines how the facility’s operational failures reflect on the broader deportation agenda and policy choices shaping thousands of lives.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Camp East Montana and Initial Concerns

• [00:00] Located on Fort Bliss, El Paso, the camp is a makeshift “tent city” for immigrants awaiting deportation (capacity up to 5,000).
• Concerns raised by Congresswoman Escobar:
  • Facility was holding detainees even before it was deemed operational—Congress was initially barred from visitation.
  • Detainees lacked access to family, legal help, and basic necessities.

Quote:

“It is not an actual building that’s been constructed out of the ground, but it is like a tent city of sorts.”
— Congresswoman Veronica Escobar [00:20]

2. Detainee Living Conditions and Health Risks

• [01:24] Detainees reported inadequate food (“bad,” confirmed by employees), foul and possibly unsafe water, and illness as a result.
• Escobar describes “heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story”—most detainees had lived in the U.S. for decades.

Quote:

“…the food… and the water were making them sick.”
— Congresswoman Veronica Escobar [01:24]

3. Enormous Costs and Scale

• [02:03] Camp East Montana costs $1.24 billion, with national funding for similar facilities totaling $45 billion (per Escobar).
• The facility is emblematic of a rapidly expanded infrastructure for mass detention.

4. ICE Inspection Findings: Presented by Doug McMillan

• [04:14] Reporters found that ICE’s own inspections documented 60 violations, from safety issues to lack of medical care.
• The investigative report relied on ICE’s internal documentation.

5. Specific Violations and Conditions

• [05:41] Chief concern: Detainees were isolated (“virtually incommunicado”).
  • No regular phone calls; tablet system malfunctions blocked outside contact.
  • Legal representatives were barred for weeks.
  • No access to ICE deportation officers for case information.

Quote:

“One of the early concerns… was that the people who were sent to live there were held virtually incommunicado from the outside.”
— Doug McMillan [05:41]

Quote (detainee perspective):

“You never have the chance to speak with an ICE agent one on one about your case. Never, never, never, never... I don’t know your case, I don’t know what to tell you...”
— Ricardo Quintana Chavez [07:19]

• Other Issues:
  • Substandard food (mostly junk food, chips) [07:46]
  • Overcrowded, limited recreation space (only 1 of 4 yards open for 1,000+ detainees) due to ongoing construction.

6. Oversight: Who’s Responsible?

• [08:22] Combination of private contractors (who agreed to ICE standards) and ICE oversight. Failures point to both contractual and regulatory lapses.

7. Official Response and Journalistic Rigor

• [08:37] DHS disputed the report, claiming “all detainees are provided proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate.”
• Reporters reaffirm findings, emphasizing reliance on ICE’s own inspection documents.

Quote:

“They didn’t really grapple with the fact that our findings were primarily based on ICE’s own statements.”
— Doug McMillan [08:52]

8. Larger Policy Questions

• [09:13] Are the failures just temporary “growing pains” or a permanent feature of hasty, makeshift large-scale detention?
• [10:03] These “soft sided structures” (tents) are being rolled out nationwide—problems at Fort Bliss likely foreshadow challenges elsewhere.

Quote:

“…there’s also a question about whether it’s appropriate to hold people in these kind of temporary structures for long periods of time.”
— Doug McMillan [09:17]

9. Next Steps and Systemic Implications

• [10:16] Unclear if ICE or DHS is committed to fixing noted violations.
• What happens at Fort Bliss could indicate the future of ICE detention standards nationwide.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It was just heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story.” — Congresswoman Escobar [01:24]
• “This one facility is costing the American taxpayer $1.24 billion.” — Congresswoman Escobar [02:03]
• “They were held virtually incommunicado from the outside…” — Doug McMillan [05:41]
• “You never have the chance to speak with an ICE agent one on one about your case. Never, never, never, never.” — Ricardo Quintana Chavez [07:19]
• “They’re feeding him snacks, like potato chips in lieu of meals.” — Doug McMillan [07:46]
• “I think what happens at Fort Bliss could be a telling sign of what happens at the dozens of other ICE facilities.” — Doug McMillan [10:16]

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Important Timestamps

| Time | Segment / Highlight | |-------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00–01:24 | Camp East Montana—description, initial concerns, Escobar’s testimony | | 01:24–02:33 | Health risks, food/water problems, taxpayer cost | | 04:14–05:41 | Washington Post report, ICE’s own inspection violations | | 05:41–07:19 | Isolated detainees, lack of communication, legal access | | 07:19–08:20 | Detainee voice (Ricardo Quintana Chavez): lack of case access & poor food | | 08:22–08:37 | Oversight responsibility: contractors vs. government | | 09:13–10:03 | Are failures temporary or systemic? Larger trend in detention infrastructure | | 10:16–10:39 | Will ICE resolve violations? What’s at stake nationally |

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Tone and Language

The episode maintains NPR's careful, serious, and inquisitive tone—amplifying the urgency and gravity of the subject through direct testimony from affected individuals, elected officials, and investigative journalists. The reporting is grounded in documents and firsthand evidence for credibility, with both official rebuttals and journalistic follow-up.

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Summary

This episode shines a critical light on Camp East Montana, revealing a pattern of neglect, lack of transparency, and possible systemic failure in ICE’s rush to expand detention capacity. Through credible sources and firsthand accounts, “Consider This” underscores not only the failures at one facility, but the troubling trend of improvised, under-regulated mass detention—posing difficult questions for policymakers and the public as immigration enforcement surges nationwide.

Transcript

[Ari Shapiro]

El Paso, Texas, is home to Fort Bliss, a large US army facility that spills into nearby New Mexico. And within Fort Bliss, there's Camp East Montana, one of the facilities where the Trump administration is housing immigrants awaiting deportation. It could eventually hold as many as 5,000 people.

[Congresswoman Veronica Escobar]

It is not an actual building that's been constructed out of the ground, but it is like a. A tent city of sorts.

[Ari Shapiro]

Congresswoman Veronica Escobar is a Democrat representing that part of Texas. She told us detainees started arriving at Camp east Montana on August 1, and when she asked to visit, she was told it was still a construction site and not yet operational.

[Congresswoman Veronica Escobar]

So that in and of itself was deeply alarming to me. The fact that there's an active construction site that is not operational by ICE's standard, and yet they are holding human beings in custody there, and they are not allowing members of Congress to go and see what's happening.

[Ari Shapiro]

Ultimately, Escobar was allowed to visit twice, and what she saw made her even more concerned. Understaffing immigrants who didn't have access to family or lawyers. And she said every detainee she met had been in the US for decades.

[Congresswoman Veronica Escobar]

And it was just heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story. They also told me that the food that they had eaten and were being provided was bad. That was confirmed by an employee on site, that the food was indeed bad that they had been given, and that they were looking for a new vendor. They also told me that the water they were being given to drink was bad, tasted bad, smelled bad, was the food and the water were making them sick.

[Ari Shapiro]

Representative Escobar thinks what's happening at this facility in Texas raises big questions about how the Trump administration is implementing its immigration policies.

[Congresswoman Veronica Escobar]

This one facility is costing the American taxpayer $1.24 billion. This is only one facility. There are going to be a number of other facilities like it that are going to spring up around the country. This will be the largest of all of them. But in total, Republicans appropriated $45 billion for facilities like this.

[Ari Shapiro]

Consider this. ICE's own inspectors confirmed that the immigration detention facility at Fort Bliss in Texas is plagued by problems. What does that tell us about the administration's larger deportation agenda?

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Foreign.

[Ari Shapiro]

I'm Ari Shapiro.

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[Ari Shapiro]

It's Consider this from npr. We're about to get a rare look inside one of the facilities where the Trump administration is housing immigrants awaiting deportation. It's called Camp East Montana, and it's located inside the Fort Bliss Military Base in El Paso, Texas. Doug McMillan is one of the reporters on a Washington Post investigative team that looked into the conditions for immigrants held at this facility. He he obtained a report where ICE inspectors say they found 60 violations of federal standards ranging from safety problems to failure to treat medical conditions.

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

Doug McMillan, welcome to All Things Considered.

[Doug McMillan]

Thanks for having me.

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

Help us understand what this report is and why it was created.

[Doug McMillan]

Yeah. So to build and run these detention centers, they rely on private companies. And for this project, it was actually a contract awarded by the US Military approval awarded this contract to a group of contractors. They are building the site and they agreeing their contract to meet all of ICE's standards around the living conditions. And this includes the quality of the food, recreation, time that people get, measures around security. There's many different things that they have to fulfill as part of their contract. So ICE is now going in, sending inspectors in from its own local detention oversight unit and trying to make sure that they are fulfilling the terms of their contract.

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

We heard about a few of the specific violations at this facility. What stood out to you among the dozens in this report?

[Doug McMillan]

Yeah, one of the early concerns at the site that was substantiated by what the inspectors found in this report was that the people there who were sent to live there were held virtually incommunicado from the outside. One of the key things to understand about ICE detention is that it's not meant to be Punitive.

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

Right. It's not prison.

[Doug McMillan]

Yeah. It's simply meant to be a place where you hold people where while they're awaiting their court proceedings or deportation proceedings. So one of the parts of that is that these people have a right to speak to a legal representative, to meet with their family members. And what we understand and what was substantiated in this ICE inspection report is that they were not being given that right. There were no telephones in the facility, and the detainees were instructed to use tablet computers to make calls outside. And a number of them reported that that their PIN numbers they were given to access their tablet computers weren't working, so their line of communication outside was not available. There are a number of legal representatives we spoke to who were trying to get inside to meet with the detainees to help them understand their cases. They were for several weeks barred from entering. And then what we also learned was that these people were given no access to ICE deportation officers. In other words, they had no way of learning about their cases or asking questions about their cases.

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

You spoke to a detainee who told you about this. His name is Ricardo Quintana Chavez, and you sent us some of the voice memos he shared with you. He was at the tent camp for 24 days before voluntarily deporting himself to Peru last week.

[Ari Shapiro]

And he described the lack of access.

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

To these deportation officers.

[Ricardo Quintana Chavez]

You never have the chance to speak with an ICE agent one on one about your case. Never, never, never, never. When one shows up every three or four days or once a week, he answers questions, but in a generic way. If you focus the questions on one person, he says, look, I don't know your case. I don't know what to tell you. So it's basically, I don't know your case, I don't know your case, I don't know your case.

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

Tell us more about what you learned from him.

[Doug McMillan]

Yeah. So he was there for more than three weeks. He said that he lived in a small cell with a number of other men and that he was only fed junk food all day. They were giving him snacks, like potato chips in lieu of meals. He also said that he had very little access to the outdoor recreation area, apparently because the site is still under construction. They have only completed one of the four recreation areas that they're supposed to be giving to detainees there. And so that one space has to be shared among hundreds and hundreds, over a thousand detainees who are being held there.

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

Who's responsible for fixing these problems?

[Ari Shapiro]

Is it the private contractor?

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

Is it the federal government, or what.

[Doug McMillan]

It's a combination that ultimately the private contractor agreed to these conditions, so it's ultimately on them. But it's also a role that ICE plays in overseeing the site and making sure that the contractor is complying with it.

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

The Department of Homeland Security called your report false and misleading. In a statement, Assistant Secretary Trish McLaughlin said, quote, all detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members.

[Ari Shapiro]

How do you respond to that?

[Doug McMillan]

Yeah, well, we stand by our reporting, which is Primarily based on ICE's own inspection documents and DHS's statement to us. They didn't really grapple with the fact that our findings were primarily based on ice's own statements.

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

These facilities were built in a hurry. We heard that it was still under construction when the first detainees started to arrive.

[Ari Shapiro]

Do you think these problems are growing.

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

Pains that will eventually get sorted out? Like, are they a bug or are they a feature?

[Doug McMillan]

So this is the first of many large, makeshift type holding facilities that the Trump administration plans to build. They call them soft sided structures because they're not physical, hard buildings. They're just building large tents. And there's kind of a temporary nature of them. And there's also a question about whether it's appropriate to hold people in these kind of temporary structures for long periods of time. I think what we're seeing here is some serious kind of questions about this plan to hold people for two, three, four plus weeks in these facilities and whether the contractors are choosing to do this and put these together in a short period of time are able to actually meet ICE's own standards.

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

You've said that these facilities are not meant to be punitive. We heard that the Department of Homeland Security rejects your characterizations. Do you think they're committed to solving these problems that their own inspectors have identified?

[Doug McMillan]

Yeah, I want to know that. I want to know what happens next. I want to know if they fix these 60 violations that they have identified with this place. I think what happens at Fort Bliss could be a telling sign of what happens at the dozens of other ICE facilities around the country that are holding larger and larger numbers of people.

[NPR Host (Interviewer)]

Doug McMillan is a reporter with the Washington Post. Thank you.

[Doug McMillan]

Thanks, Ari.

[Ari Shapiro]

This episode was produced by Jeffrey Pierre. It was edited by William Troup and John Ketchum with audio engineering by Hannah Glovna. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigun. It's consider this from npr. I'm Ari Shapiro.

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[Ricardo Quintana Chavez]

On the Throughline podcast from npr. Immigration enforcement might be more visible now, but this moment didn't begin with President Trump's second inauguration, or even his first, a series from Throughline about how immigration became political and a cash cow. Listen to Throughline in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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