Recent reports from the ACLU and The Guardian have brought to light disturbing allegations of sexual and physical abuse committed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel against male detainees held at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. The accounts describe a pattern of violence and dehumanization that human rights advocates say amounts to torture.

One detainee, identified under the pseudonym Samuel, described being brutally beaten and sexually assaulted by officers during his detention. He recounted how one officer “grabbed my testicles and firmly crushed them,” while another “forced his fingers deep into my ears.” Following the assault, Samuel required hospitalization and continues to suffer hearing damage. His story is among dozens of similar accounts collected by advocates and attorneys.

The Fort Bliss facility, reportedly the largest immigration detention site in the United States, houses hundreds of migrants — including minors — under military control. The new allegations further expose what critics call a systemic crisis in America’s immigration enforcement network. According to reports, other detainees — identified as Ignacio, Abel, Benjamin, and Eduardo — experienced comparable violence, including genital assaults, beatings, and stomping while restrained or after refusing deportation orders. Several said they were attacked after requesting medication or expressing fear of returning to Mexico.

This emerging pattern of abuse underscores the urgent need for federal oversight and accountability. Advocates argue that ICE’s internal mechanisms have repeatedly failed to investigate or prosecute staff responsible for such crimes. Instead, whistleblowers and victims are often intimidated or silenced. Many detainees, already vulnerable due to asylum claims or undocumented status, face retaliation for reporting mistreatment.

Local immigration advocates in Cowlitz County and across Washington have long warned that these abuses in federal custody are not isolated to distant facilities like Fort Bliss. Washington State’s own Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, a privately operated ICE facility, has faced parallel accusations of medical neglect, sexual harassment, and excessive force. The revelations from Texas therefore reinforce what many in our region already understand: that the U.S. immigration detention system functions more like a penal colony than a refuge for those fleeing danger.

This crisis invites local and national reflection. Communities in southwest Washington — often home to asylum seekers, mixed-status families, and migrant laborers — can take an active role in demanding congressional investigations and abolishing the opaque, militarized detention apparatus that allows such atrocities to occur. True patriotism, as our forebears understood it, means defending the Constitution’s promise of liberty and dignity for all people within our borders.

The ACLU has called for an independent federal investigation into the Fort Bliss sexual abuse allegations and for the immediate suspension of the officers implicated. Human rights lawyers are urging survivors to come forward through attorney intermediaries to ensure safety. No matter how far from El Paso we may be, these crimes are committed in our name — and our silence only deepens the harm.

Publication: ACLU; The Guardian