In EL PASO, Texas, groups advocating for immigrants’ rights are urging the closure of a newly established immigration detention center located in Fort Bliss, Texas. They are also asking the Trump administration to end “indiscriminate” raids aimed at immigrant workers.

“It is disgraceful to use a military base for holding immigrants, as it contradicts the values our city and nation uphold,” stated Samantha Singleton, who is the policy director at Border Network for Human Rights.

She further mentioned, “People from all backgrounds across America are watching what’s happening. They witness friends and family members vanish into unmarked cars, observe the heartache caused by family separations, and see vast amounts of taxpayer money being used to target immigrant communities, while families nationwide are struggling to afford basic necessities.”

BNHR, along with other organizations from West Texas and Southern New Mexico, gathered in Central El Paso on Thursday to protest the newly opened East Montana Detention Facility. Forty protestors lined up against the Estrella del Paso building, some holding a large sign calling to “Close the camps.”

Currently, Fort Bliss is accommodating 1,000 migrants in large canvas tents, all of whom are adult males. The Trump administration has plans to expand the facility by adding more tents, aiming to increase its capacity to 5,000, potentially making it the largest migrant detention center in the U.S.

On Thursday morning, U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat from Texas, visited the East Montana Detention Facility. She informed advocates that she learned half of the detainees did not have criminal records, contrary to recent statements by Republican lawmakers that only “criminal aliens” and those facing definite deportation would be detained at Fort Bliss.

“There’s lack of access and transparency as to who’s detained there,” said Becka Sheff, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico. “From what we are aware, the people at Fort Bliss come from all over the country … California and Florida, people still fighting their cases; they don’t have a final order” of deportation.

She said citizens of countries as diverse as Vietnam, Cuba and Venezuela are at East Montana.

Sheff and others called for accountability from ICE including access to the new detention center and to detainees.

Border Report reached out to ICE for comment. The agency sent a statement re-stating the need for additional detention center bed space and how the Fort Bliss “soft-sided” facility is comparable to any other detention center.

“The Fort Bliss Facility will offer everything a traditional ICE detention facility offers, including access to legal representation and a law library, access to visitation, recreational space, medical treatment space and nutritionally balanced meals. It also provides necessary accommodations for disabilities, diet, and religious beliefs,” the statement said.

Estrella del Paso Executive Director Melissa Lopez said El Paso has not been immune to workplace raids and arrests of immigrants in places ICE previously did not go into, such as courthouses.

“We had a circumstance recently in which one of the (immigration) judges pulled in several individuals into one hearing and summarily dismissed their cases without taking into consideration their circumstances,” Lopez said. “And then as soon as all of those individuals walked out of court, they were arrested.”

Lopez said she witnessed a workplace raid at a business in the same block as Estrella del Paso. “We had a number of federal law enforcement, especially immigration officers, surrounding our building,” which raised concerns about possible monitoring of the nonprofit’s activities, she said. It was a workplace raid “literally happening in our neighborhood.”

Limon Garza said at least 10 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients have been apprehended by ICE and face deportation. That includes Catalina Xochitl Santiago, who was arrested Aug. 3 at El Paso International Airport based on previous charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and trespassing.

Lopez said Santiago’s charges had been dismissed prior to her arrest in El Paso.