Two men detained at Camp East Montana, a tented ICE facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso, have died within two weeks. Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, was found unresponsive on 14 January and ICE called the death a presumed suicide while the official cause remains under investigation. Earlier, 55-year-old Geraldo Lunas Campos died on 3 January; the local medical examiner cited asphyxia and his death is being reviewed as a possible homicide. Authorities say investigations are ongoing amid wider scrutiny after a record number of deaths in ICE custody last year.
Two Deaths at Texas ICE Camp East Montana in Two Weeks — One Death Under Homicide Review
Protesters opposing mass deportations at the Cassidy Gate at Fort Bliss, where Camp East Montana was being built, in El Paso, Texas, on 17 August 2025.Photograph: Paul Ratje/Reuters(Photograph: Paul Ratje/Reuters)
A second man detained at the Camp East Montana immigration facility in El Paso has died within two weeks, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on Monday.
Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, a native of Nicaragua, was found "unconscious and unresponsive in his room" on 14 January at the Camp East Montana tent complex on the Fort Bliss military base, ICE said. Staff immediately notified on-site contract medical personnel, who began life-saving measures; emergency medical technicians later arrived but were unable to revive Diaz, who was pronounced dead shortly after 4pm. ICE described the death as a "presumed suicide" and said the "official cause of his death remains under investigation."
ICE said Diaz was detained on 6 January during a deportation operation in Minneapolis. He had first entered the United States through the Mexican border in March 2024, was released on parole with a court date, and was ordered removed in absentia by an immigration judge on 26 August. ICE detained him again on 12 January for deportation.
Earlier in January, Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, a Cuban national, died at the same Camp East Montana facility on 3 January. ICE said Campos was "experiencing medical distress" and that staff provided emergency treatment. The local medical examiner has cited a preliminary cause of death as "asphyxia due to neck and chest compression," and officials have said the death may be investigated as a homicide.
"He said, 'I cannot breathe, I cannot breathe.' After that, we don't hear his voice anymore and that's it," Santos Jesus Flores, detained with Campos, told the Washington Post, alleging he saw guards choking the man.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials have offered a different account. In response to reporting, DHS said Campos attempted to take his own life and "violently resisted" officers who were trying to assist him — an assertion not included in ICE's initial statement. Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, reiterated that account to the Washington Post after its reporting.
Camp East Montana is a large, tented detention complex on Fort Bliss that has been the focus of intensified scrutiny amid a wider pattern of fatalities in immigration custody. Last year, 32 people died in ICE custody — the highest number in two decades — and at least five deaths have been reported so far this year. Another Camp East Montana detainee, Francisco Gaspar-Andres, died at a nearby hospital on 3 December; he was 48.
All deaths remain subject to ongoing investigations by law enforcement and medical examiners. ICE and DHS statements, witness accounts, and preliminary medical findings differ in key details for some cases, and authorities have said they will continue probing the incidents.
Support Resources
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or crisis, please reach out for help:
- US: Call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
- UK & Ireland: Samaritans — Freephone 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org / jo@samaritans.ie.
- Australia: Lifeline — 13 11 14.
- Other international helplines: befrienders.org.
Help us improve.
