U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar is calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share any internal investigation into the disturbances inside Camp East Montana over Labor Day weekend with her and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.
ICE's El Paso office is currentlyinvestigating what happened in the disturbance, Escobar, D-El Paso, said. If ICE and DHS do not share the findings, Escobar said there should be a congressional investigation.
Escobar made the comment in a news conference in her office in Downtown El Paso on Thursday, Sept. 10, after making her 11th oversight visit to the massive immigration detention center.
The congresswoman shared new details on what happened in the disturbance.
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She confirmed that the unrest was led by Venezuelan detainees and involved over 300 people who were calling for their quick deportation. They also were protesting conditions in the detention center. Escobar also confirmed that the detainees broke down six walls that separate the pods in the 'Charlie' tent.
"Camp East Montana has been operational for well over a year," Escobar said. "And for over a year nothing like this has happened. And so I am very curious to know what has changed, what happened, and why is this happening now."
She was unable to speak with any detainees during her oversight visit. She expressed frustration with how the Trump administration has made it more difficult to speak with immigrants detained by ICE.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has described the unrest as a riot.
Escobar said that 30 Venezuelans were placed in isolation. They will be referred to the U.S. Attorney's Office for inciting a riot, participating in a riot and damaging federal property, she said.
She agreed that there should be consequences and accountability for the disturbances. But she said that the contractor, Amentum Services Inc., also shares the blame.
"The contractor, in my view, shares blame and responsibility," Escobar said. "If the contractor was not adequately staffed up, if their personnel are not adequately trained, if they do not know how to handle a large number of detainees, that is an issue."
Escobar said that, in response to the unrest, the Trump administration will carry out two deportation flights from El Paso to Venezuela. There was previously only one flight each week, but the schedule was disrupted by the June 25 earthquake that struck the South American country.
Camp East Montana is the largest detention facility in the U.S., with the capacity to hold 5,000 immigrants who are pending deportation. As of Sept. 10, there were 2,180 immigrants held there, Escobar said.
Camp East Montana called for assistance, logs show
ICE officials at the detention center denied to Escobar that they had made calls to Fort Bliss and the El Paso Police requesting assistance during the unrest.
But a call did go out from Camp East Montana on Monday, Sept. 7, to the El Paso Fire Department, according to the call logs obtained by the El Paso Times. The call is listed as incident R26070979 in the logs.
An officer at the ICE facility called 911 on Labor Day. The call-log describes the incident as a "request assist referencing a riot."
Jeff Abbott covers the border for the El Paso Times and can be reached at:jdabbott@usatodayco.com; @palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or @palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar demands ICE findings on Camp East Montana riot
