ICE confirmed a third death at Camp East Montana, the tent-style detention center on Fort Bliss in El Paso, with 36-year-old Victor Manuel Diaz found unresponsive and pronounced dead on Jan. 14. The agency described the death as a presumed suicide while the official cause remains under investigation. Two earlier deaths at the facility — on Dec. 3 and Jan. 3 — are also under review. Lawmakers have raised safety concerns as ICE detentions have increased and oversight continues.
Third Detainee Dies at El Paso ICE Tent Facility; Officials Open Investigation
Camp East Montana on the Fort Bliss U.S. Army base in El Paso. (Paul Ratje / Reuters file)(Paul Ratje)
A third undocumented immigrant detained at Camp East Montana, a large tent-style detention center on Fort Bliss in El Paso, has died, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced. The death is the third at the site within 44 days and has prompted renewed questions about conditions and oversight at the facility.
What Happened
ICE identified the most recent deceased detainee as Victor Manuel Diaz, a 36-year-old from Nicaragua who first encountered ICE officers in Minneapolis. Contract security staff found Diaz unconscious and unresponsive in his room on Jan. 14; he was pronounced dead at 4:09 p.m., the agency said.
ICE described the death as a "presumed suicide," though it emphasized that the official cause remains under investigation. The agency did not immediately answer follow-up questions about why it labeled the death a presumed suicide.
Earlier Deaths And Ongoing Inquiries
This follows two earlier deaths at Camp East Montana: Francisco Gaspar-Andres, 48, from Guatemala, who died Dec. 3 after being taken to The Hospitals of Providence East; and Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, from Cuba, who died in custody on Jan. 3 after what ICE described as a medical emergency. ICE previously said Gaspar-Andres' death was being reviewed while medical staff attributed it to liver and kidney failure; Lunas' cause of death remains under investigation.
ICE said staff observed Lunas in distress while he was in segregation, a status used when detainees are housed apart from the general population. According to ICE, he had been placed in segregation after a disruptive incident while waiting for medication; medical personnel and emergency services responded but he was pronounced dead by EMS.
Facility Context And Oversight
Camp East Montana opened in August and, as of Jan. 8, held 2,903 detainees, according to ICE data. The site uses large soft-sided tents rather than permanent brick-and-mortar structures, a model ICE has increasingly employed as detentions have expanded.
Members of Congress have raised safety and oversight concerns about the facility. NBC News has contacted the El Paso County medical examiner for details on the three deaths but has not yet received a response. ICE issued a statement saying it is "committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments," and said investigations into these deaths are ongoing.
Note: Investigations by ICE and local authorities are pending; official causes of death for all three detainees have not been publicly confirmed by the medical examiner.
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