After the Detention Part 1: Autopsy Shopping
One Came Back Homicide, the Next Body Went Somewhere Else
“I can’t breathe.”
Geraldo Lunas Campos said it in Spanish. The guards at Camp East Montana continued restraining him. According to witnesses, they compressed his neck and torso until he stopped breathing.
On January 3, 2026, the El Paso County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy.
The ruling: Homicide.
Asphyxia due to neck and torso compression while being physically restrained by law enforcement.
Eleven days later, another man died at the same facility.
This time, ICE sent the body to William Beaumont Army Medical Center.
The Army hospital doesn’t release autopsy reports to the public.
Three Deaths
Camp East Montana sits on the Fort Bliss Army base, 60 acres of desert near El Paso. It is the largest immigration detention facility in the United States — a $1.24 billion tent city holding approximately 3,000 people, with capacity for 5,000 and plans to expand to 8,500.
In 44 days, three men died there.
Francisco Gaspar-Andrés
December 3, 2025
Age 48. Guatemalan.
Official cause of death: “Natural liver failure.”
He had been sick for months. Human rights organizations would later document that he “failed to receive appropriate medical care” for liver and kidney failure — conditions that, properly treated, don’t kill 48-year-olds.
His death was the first warning.
Geraldo Lunas Campos
January 3, 2026
Age 55. Cuban.
ICE’s initial statement: He “experienced medical distress.”
ICE’s revised statement: He died during a “suicide attempt” when staff “intervened to save his life.”
The Washington Post obtained a different account: A witness heard Campos say “I can’t breathe.” Guards were compressing his neck and torso. Fellow detainee Santos Jesús Flores said he watched through his cell window as Campos was handcuffed, tackled, and placed in a chokehold until he lost consciousness.
The El Paso County Medical Examiner’s finding: Homicide — asphyxia due to neck and torso compression. The report noted that Campos “was witnessed to become unresponsive while being physically restrained by law enforcement.”
His family is filing a wrongful death lawsuit.
ICE is attempting to deport the witnesses.
Victor Manuel Diaz
January 14, 2026
Age 36. Nicaraguan.
He was arrested in Minneapolis on January 6 — the same day the enforcement surge began that would kill Renee Good and Alex Pretti. He was transferred to Fort Bliss within a week.
Eight days later, he was dead.
ICE’s statement: “Found unconscious and unresponsive in his room... presumed suicide.”
His family doesn’t believe it: “I don’t believe he took his life. He was not a criminal; he was looking for a better life.”
The autopsy was performed at William Beaumont Army Medical Center — not the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s office.
“Why did they go against their previous practice?” asked Randall Kallinen, the Diaz family’s attorney.
The Cover-Up Infrastructure
After the county medical examiner ruled Campos’s death a homicide, a system activated.
1. Autopsy Shopping
The county medical examiner had jurisdiction. The county medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.
The next body went somewhere else.
William Beaumont Army Medical Center is a Department of Defense facility on Fort Bliss. Unlike the county medical examiner, it doesn’t release autopsy reports to the public — only to family members and investigators who request them through formal channels.
The public outcry over the homicide ruling, Kallinen believes, explains why ICE turned to a military hospital for the next autopsy.
2. Visitor Lockdown
Starting January 15 — the day after Diaz’s death — Minnesota detainees were specifically denied visitors.
Guards told families: “They’re not allowing the people from Minnesota to have visitors. They’re out in Echo.”
Diaz had come from Minnesota. His death raised questions. Minnesota visitors might be able to testify about his condition when he arrived — whether the “presumed suicide” story made sense for a man who’d been in custody only eight days.
The visitor ban targeted the witnesses.
3. Attorney Barriers
Attorneys are required to make appointments at least 24 hours in advance to see clients at Fort Bliss.
For detainees with severe medical emergencies — the ones human rights investigators documented: insulin denied, broken bones untreated — 24 hours may be too late.
4. Witness Deportation
ICE is attempting to deport detainees who witnessed Campos’s death.
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX-16), whose district includes Fort Bliss:
“Witnesses claim staff killed the detainee; DHS must preserve all evidence — including halting their effort to deport the witnesses.”
A federal judge is hearing the matter.
5. Congressional Oversight Blocked
House Oversight Committee Democrats have repeatedly demanded Secretary Noem provide sworn testimony on deaths in custody. DHS has refused.
Meanwhile, DHS furloughed the entire Office of Detention Oversight — the department’s primary safeguard against abuse — leaving more than 60,000 detainees without independent inspection.
The December 8 Warning
On December 8, 2025 — five days after Francisco Gaspar-Andrés died, 26 days before Geraldo Lunas Campos died — a coalition of human rights organizations sent ICE a detailed warning.
The organizations: ACLU, Human Rights Watch, Texas Civil Rights Project, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, ACLU of Texas, ACLU of New Mexico, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, Estrella del Paso.
What the letter contained:
Interviews with 45+ current detainees
16 signed declarations under penalty of perjury
Systematic documentation of abuse
What they documented:
Beatings by masked officers. A teenager identified as “Samuel” described being slammed to the ground, breaking his tooth, then beaten until he lost consciousness. An officer “grabbed my testicles and firmly crushed them.” Another “forced his fingers deep into my ears.” He was transported by ambulance to the hospital. He now has permanent hearing damage.
Sexual abuse by contractors. Officers allegedly grabbed and groped detainees’ genitals during searches, using sexual violence to humiliate and control.
Medical neglect. Insulin denied to diabetics. Broken bones untreated. Chronic conditions ignored until they became emergencies — or deaths.
Inedible, rotten food. Chronic hunger. Insufficient portions. Food deprivation used as punishment.
Coerced deportations. Cuban detainee “Ignacio” described officers hitting his head and “slamming it against the wall approximately ten times,” then “grabbing and crushing” his testicles. After the beating, he and approximately 20 other detainees were forced onto a bus to the Mexican border. Officers threatened they would be deported to “El Salvador or Africa” if they refused to enter Mexico.
Solitary confinement. No outdoor time for weeks.
The letter’s conclusion: Additional deaths were imminent if the facility continued to operate.
ICE’s response: Two more men died.
“The government knew of the horrors at Fort Bliss,” said Charlotte Weiss of the Texas Civil Rights Project. “Now, we bear witness to the result of their reckless inaction and to the tragic and preventable loss of three sacred lives.”
They knew.
The Contractor
Who runs Camp East Montana?
The company is based in Henrico County, Virginia. Its address is a residential home. It employs 39 people.
Before this contract, the company’s largest federal award was $16 million. Its lifetime federal contracts totaled $48.2 million.
It was awarded $1.24 billion to operate the largest immigration detention facility in the United States.
The company has no listed experience running corrections or detention facilities.
Gemini Tech Services filed a GAO protest alleging Acquisition Logistics “lacks the experience, staffing and resources to perform the work.”
The Pentagon refused to release the contract or explain why Acquisition Logistics was selected over a dozen other bidders.
The Minneapolis Pipeline
Victor Manuel Diaz was arrested in Minneapolis on January 6, 2026.
That same day, he was transferred to Fort Bliss — 1,500 miles.
Eight days later, he was dead.
The same enforcement surge that arrested Diaz killed two American citizens:
Renee Good (died January 7) — shot by federal agents while turning away
Alex Pretti (died January 24) — shot 10+ times while backing away with palms raised
Three people who encountered Minneapolis enforcement operations in January 2026. All three dead.But most of us only heard about Good and Pretti.
The transfer system hid Diaz’s death from most of us.
The transfer system works like this: rapid arrest, same-day transfer, isolation from family and lawyers, arrival at a facility 1,500 miles away where no one knows your condition. If you die eight days later, the only witnesses are the people who transferred you.
After Diaz’s death, Minnesota detainees were specifically blocked from receiving visitors.
This is geographic targeting of potential witnesses.
Why a Military Base
Camp East Montana sits on Fort Bliss Army base for a reason.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved the use of Fort Bliss for immigration detention. Hegseth “very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings” — the theology that empathy is sinful and authority requires the willingness to inflict pain. The facility where guards compressed a man’s neck until he stopped breathing was authorized by a man whose church teaches that “aggressive traits are gifts from God.”
On military property:
State and local oversight is limited. The facility operates under federal military authority.
The county medical examiner’s jurisdiction is questionable. After one homicide ruling, ICE found a workaround.
Military police, military hospitals, military rules. The chain of command runs through the War Department, and when a death needs to be hidden, to a military hospital that doesn’t release reports.
Congressional oversight is complicated. It’s not a typical ICE facility.
The Numbers
Deaths at Fort Bliss
3 deaths in 44 days
1 ruled homicide by county medical examiner
1 autopsy sent to military hospital after homicide ruling
0 criminal charges
Deaths Nationwide
31 deaths in ICE custody in 2025 — the most in 20 years, nearly triple the 11 deaths in 2024
More deaths in 2025 than in Biden’s entire four-year term (26 total)
At least 6 deaths in the first weeks of January 2026
Federal Violations
ICE’s own detention oversight unit inspected Camp East Montana in its first 50 days of operation.
Finding: More than 60 federal detention standards violated.
Medical care. Food quality. Sanitation. Access to counsel. Use of force policies. Armed guards were given no instructions about which situations would justify lethal force — what inspectors called “a serious vulnerability.”
The facility was in systematic violation of federal standards from day one. And they knew it.
The Historical Echo
Fort Bliss has done this before.
During World War II, the base held Japanese immigrants — Issei — in an internment camp. At least 113 first-generation Japanese Americans were shipped through Fort Bliss before being sent to other holding areas. The Japanese American Citizens League condemned the current facility as “dishonoring” that history.
The same ground. Different targets. Same logic: designate a population, deny their rights, hold them in desert camps, look away from what happens inside.
The historical parallel isn’t metaphor. It’s geography.
Chain of Command
Pete Hegseth (Secretary of War)
Approved use of Fort Bliss for immigration detention
William Beaumont Army Medical Center reports to DOD
The hospital now performs autopsies instead of the county medical examiner
Kristi Noem (Secretary of Homeland Security)
DHS oversees ICE
Expected to testify before Congress March 3
Rep. Escobar demanding briefing on deaths
Todd Lyons (Acting ICE Director)
Received December 8 warning letter
Presided over facility during all three deaths
Responsible for autopsy decisions
Kenneth Wagner (Acquisition Logistics LLC CEO)
Company awarded $1.24B contract
No prior experience running detention facilities
Pentagon won’t explain why his company was selected
The Guards
Unnamed
Unaccountable
Compressed Geraldo Lunas Campos’s neck as he said “I can’t breathe” and kept going
The Question
If this is what we know despite the cover-up, what don’t we know?
The county medical examiner ruled Geraldo Lunas Campos’s death a homicide. ICE’s response wasn’t to investigate. It wasn’t to hold anyone accountable. It wasn’t to shut down the facility where a man was choked to death.
ICE’s response was to find a new medical examiner.
One that doesn’t release autopsy reports to the public.
Related Coverage
Tom Homan: The Commander — The 40-year mission directing the Minneapolis-to-Fort Bliss pipeline
BORTAC: America’s Interior Occupation Force — The tactical unit deployed to Minneapolis
The Hammer — Bovino and the Minneapolis operations that sent Diaz to Fort Bliss
Minneapolis Banned Chokeholds After George Floyd — The Pretti shooting
Made of Sunshine — Renee Good’s last words
Sources
Primary Reporting
El Paso Matters: “Third man dies in ICE custody at Fort Bliss Camp East Montana” (January 18, 2026)
El Paso Matters: “ICE sent body to Army hospital after El Paso medical examiner ruled detention death homicide” (February 3, 2026)
Texas Tribune: “ICE bypasses El Paso medical examiner for autopsy of migrant who died at Fort Bliss” (February 3, 2026)
Texas Tribune: “El Paso medical examiner rules death in ICE camp a homicide” (January 21, 2026)
NBC News: “ICE detainee’s death ruled a homicide by medical examiner”
Washington Post: “Migrant death at ICE detention facility likely to be ruled homicide”
ABC News: “Family of Nicaraguan man seeks answers after his death at Camp East Montana”
Fox 9: “Nicaraguan man arrested by ICE in Minneapolis dies at El Paso facility”
PBS: “Mystery surrounds $1.2 billion Army contract to build huge detention tent camp in Texas desert”
Human Rights Documentation
ACLU: “Human Rights Groups Urge ICE to End Immigration Detention at Fort Bliss” (December 8, 2025)
ACLU: “Detained immigrants detail physical abuse and inhumane conditions”
Truthout/The Appeal: “ICE Was Warned About Conditions at Fort Bliss. Then 2 Men Died.”
Human Rights Watch: “US: Close Fort Bliss Immigration Detention Site” (December 8, 2025)
Congressional
Rep. Veronica Escobar: Letter to DHS on Camp East Montana (December 19, 2025)
Rep. Escobar: “60 violations in 50 days” — on Washington Post ICE inspection report
Rep. Krishnamoorthi: Demand for Secretary Noem testimony
Rep. Krishnamoorthi: On furloughing of Office of Detention Oversight
Historical
Densho Encyclopedia: “Fort Bliss (detention facility)”
JACL: “New ICE Detention Center at Fort Bliss Dishonors Japanese American History”
Death Statistics
NPR: “2025 is the deadliest year to be in ICE custody in decades”
HuffPost: “Grim Start To 2026: ICE Custody Deaths Pile Up After Deadliest Year On Record”
American Immigration Council: “Trump Administration Deadlier for ICE Detainees Than COVID-19 Pandemic”
Contractor
VPM: “Henrico company lands $1.2 billion government contract to build Texas detention center”
Richmonder: “This Tuckahoe home won a $1.26 billion contract for an ICE detention center”
Series: After the Arrest
This is Part 1 of a 7-part series tracing what happens after ICE operations disappear from the cameras.
After the Homicide Ruling, ICE Found a New Medical Examiner ← You are here
1,500 Miles in 24 Hours — The transfer system that turns an arrest into a disappearance
The Tent City and the Warehouse — Inside the facilities America is building to hold 135,000 people
The $165 Billion Machine — How Congress cut student loans to fund the largest law enforcement expansion in history
The Closed Loop — One company monitors, hunts, and detains. Its executives run ICE.
The Darkness — The system wasn’t designed to fail oversight. It was designed to exist without it.
Making It Visible — The journalists, whistleblowers, and communities forcing the system into the light
For the series documenting how this enforcement apparatus was built, see The Gamergate Army Gets Badges and Guns.
It makes me remember how the last Republican President's illegal war had a place called Abu Ghraib, and black sites, and "enhanced interrogation" and tons and tons of lies and cover-ups.
Mark Thank You for this VITAL WORK YOU ARE DOING!! ..the powers that be didn’t like that i restacked this. For a second my profile was Not Found. Hmmm. Subsequent restacks of some other ppl’s Ukrainian posts ( Victoria Belim 💙💛🇺🇦) failed to go anywhere -until I reset location and privacy- on my device( um, 👋🏼&🖕🏻u 2any unethical violent🧊I guess.) that’s ok to say, right?The reposts still do not show. My limited working theory was my profile was being reamed thru a juicer 🥕🥕🥬and into my 📝heftydossierWhich will one day be somewhere on the correct and kind side of humanity in history, but really I am small and weak here and exist to be educated on what is occurring all around us that we will never see on legacy six o’clock news (like I used to watch in black and white tv when I was a kid, horrified about Vietnam and Kent state, the 2 things that helped form me into anything other than a little young Republican) (Sorry Dad!) Some day we will have a functioning democracy again and we won’t have to worry about our free speech. Or being rounded up based on our politics.pffft! I restack what I find interesting or needing to be common knowledge . Thank You for this VITAL WORK YOU ARE DOING.