A staff member for Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) is being accused of lying about being an attorney for illegal aliens being detained in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on at least 11 occasions, in order to meet with them and sneak in cell phones. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons crafted a letter for Escobar to inform her about Benito Torres, a senior caseworker on her staff.
Lyons revealed that Torres claimed to be the lawyer representing a number of detainees in ICE custody at the Camp East Montana facility located at Fort Bliss in El Paso. The letter stated that there was ample evidence that showed Torres misrepresented himself as an attorney, which violated rules and protocols for security and safety.
“The available evidence demonstrates your staffer, a senior caseworker named Benito Torres, misrepresented himself as counsel for detainees in ICE custody, violated clear detention standards and security protocols prohibiting the use of cellphones inside ICE facilities, improperly met with multiple detainees, and falsely claimed to ICE personnel such use had been approved by the agency,” Lyons stated in the letter.
“As a result of bringing a cell phone into the Camp East Montana facility, contrary to facility visitation policy, Mr. Torres’ misrepresentation that he is a licensed attorney to gain access to detainees, his improper meetings with groups of detainees, and his assertions to ICE personnel about the origins of his visit, Mr. Torres is hereby [sic] prohibited from accessing any ICE facility,” the letter continued, according to Fox News.
A photograph taken of a sign-in sheet clearly shows that Torres marked himself down as a “lawyer” visiting a “client.” ICE records also reveal that the first time Torres lied about being a detainee’s legal representative was in September 2025. The most recent time was on January 30, 2026. A facility administrator became suspicious of Torres and confronted him.
The congresswoman’s staffer caved and admitted that he wasn’t really an attorney and was visiting someone as a private individual. What stirred officials at the facility to confront Torres were the cell phones. Authorities discovered that someone was slipping cell phones to detainees from the inside and quickly put all the pieces together.
Lyons demanded that Escobar provide written answers to several questions he included in the letter. He wanted to know if Torres was employed by the congresswoman on the dates that he visited the facility, if he was licensed to practice law, and if she was aware of what he was up to. The acting ICE director also wanted to know if Escobar condoned the behavior of her staffer and if she would hold him accountable for his actions.
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Escobar sent a statement to Fox News, describing Torres as a “dedicated public servant” and “Army veteran,” going on to add that the allegations against him were “unfounded.” “It is worth noting that ICE has refused to respond to multiple letters I’ve sent about Camp East Montana regarding deaths, including a homicide; outbreaks of diseases including COVID-19, measles, and tuberculosis; waste, fraud, and abuse; a lack of legal representation or medical care; and so much more,” she said in the statement.
“This administration has a history of engaging in intimidation tactics against Members of Congress as well as continuously attempting to obstruct our ability to provide oversight,” Escobar added. “I stand proudly by the members of my team who have demonstrated nothing but dedication and integrity to serving our nation and our community.”
Escobar has been extremely critical of Camp East Montana, referring to the facility as “disastrous and inhumane,” going so far as to call for it to be closed down. “The United States already has the largest immigration detention network in the world, and these added facilities serve only as tools for the administration’s inhumanity,” she wrote in a post on X in March.
This isn’t the first time congressional staffers have attempted to be slick and gain access to ICE facilities. In November 2025, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) booted a staff member who also claimed to be an attorney for an illegal alien to try getting him released. Another staffer, Edward York, claimed to be representing Jose Ismeal Ayuzo Sandoval, a citizen of Mexico, whose rap sheet included four deportations and a DUI conviction.
On the topic of staffers, watch Tim Burchett expose the RINO staffer who has been blocking the SAVE Act here: