ACLU sues DHS over 'inhumane conditions' at nation's largest immigration detention facility

The ACLU is suing the Trump administration over conditions for migrants detained at the Camp East Montana Detention Facility that it says amount to "a civil rights catastrophe."

Several civil rights groups joining the lawsuit are accusing Immigration and Customs Enforcement of subjecting immigrant detainees to wide-ranging "inhumane" conditions and treatment, including physical abuse, sexual harassment, "abhorrent medical care," spoiled food, and inappropriate use of force.

The lawsuit was filed less than a year after the sprawling tent camp was built by the Trump administration on the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas, at the start of the administration's nationwide immigration crackdown. With a capacity of 5,000 beds, it's the largest immigration detention center in the country.

The complaint said that "in the ten months that it has been operational, the facility has become notorious for flagrant human rights abuses that people endure during their detention."

"They are confined to windowless enclosures in tents and suffer egregious physical abuse by guards; abhorrent medical and mental health care, including for people with chronic conditions like cancer and HIV; indiscriminate use of solitary confinement to punish and silence victims of guard abuse; and other flagrant constitutional violations, including exposure to measles, tuberculosis, and other diseases," the complaint said.

In a lengthy statement responding to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said that no one at the Camp East Montana facility is denied access to medical care.

"It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody," the spokesperson said. "This includes medical, dental, and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care."

The lawsuit highlights three deaths that have occurred at the $1.2 billion facility that have previously been reported on by ABC News, including a Cuban immigrant whose death was ruled a homicide by the local medical examiner. In a statement in January, a DHS spokesperson said the detainee was pronounced dead after "experiencing medical distress."

"In federal court statements, witnesses reported that facility staff had denied Mr. Lunas Campos his medicine and that Mr. Lunas Campos said that he would not go into his solitary confinement cell unless he received his medicine. The guards grabbed Mr. Lunas Campos and physically assaulted him. The last thing others in the solitary confinement unit heard him say was 'Me estás asfixiando' -- Spanish for 'you're choking me.' Then silence," the complaint alleges.

The DHS spokesperson said in a statement that "there has been NO spike in deaths in ICE custody. Consistent with data over the last decade, death rates in custody under the Trump administration are 0.009% of the detained population. As bed space has rapidly expanded, we have maintained higher a standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens -- including providing access to proper medical care."

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of four current detainees who are seeking class action certification to represent all people being held at the facility.

In the lawsuit, the ACLU claims guards at the detention facility "touch people sexually without consent with no accountability."

"For example, one person reports that a male guard sexually assaulted him during an invasive pat down in front of two female guards, one of whom encouraged the detained person to report it to a supervisor. But, after he reported this sexual assault to the supervisor, the guard continued to harass him with sexual innuendos at night," the complaint says.

"These claims that there are 'inhumane' conditions at Camp East Montana are categorically false. No detainees are being beaten or abused," the DHS spokesperson said in response.

The lawsuit also says the dusty conditions inside and outside the makeshift tents cause respiratory problems for detainees. It accuses DHS of contracting with private companies that have no listed experience running detention facilities.

In April a spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security told ABC News the agency hired a new contractor for the facility an is "always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody."

Both contractors are mentioned in the complaint.

In April, an internal inspection report by ICE listed dozens of safety and security violations that had been found at the detention center during a three-day visit, 22 of which involved "use of force and restraints," and included failing to document incidents, failing to provide medical exams after physical altercations, and failing to record incidents on video.

The DHS said in a statement at the time that the agency "will continue to ensure that all of the detainees in our custody receive the level of care, service, and medical support they need to match our high detention standards."

The ACLU says Camp East Montana is a civil immigration detention center where people are detained while they fight their deportation cases or, in some cases, briefly after they've won.

"Because people detained at Camp East Montana are in civil detention, the law is clear: their confinement must not be punitive," the lawsuit says.