A government watchdog found major problems with the Trump administration’s efforts to hold immigrant detainees inside the Fort Bliss Army base in Texas, including millions of dollars in waste, unsanitary conditions and inadequate tuberculosis control measures, as well as a lost firearm.
From August 2025 to March 2026, the facility, known as Camp East Montana, suffered a host of serious incidents, including two deaths that were investigated by the Government Accountability Office. According to the GAO’s report, one detainee’s death by asphyxiation in January was determined by an autopsy to be a homicide and is now under a criminal investigation. Another detainee died by suicide in January after being left “unattended for intervals longer than 15 minutes,” the report said.
In another incident in January, a security guard lost a loaded firearm inside the facility. As of March, the gun still had not been found.
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Detainees with chronic health conditions did not receive proper care, the GAO also said, citing the lack of treatment plans for those with HIV or diabetes.
Camp East Montana is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency’s largest detention facility, with a capacity of 5,000 detainees. In its report, the GAO said the issues were linked to a rushed construction and contracting process.
“While the Army and ICE’s planning and acquisition approach for Camp East Montana enabled them to award the contract quickly, it contributed to negative outcomes during facility operations,” the GAO said.
“These issues contributed to waste of government resources and threats to the health and life of detained noncitizens and staff at the facility,” the watchdog added.
The Defense Department announced the building of Camp East Montana last summer, touting it as the “largest federal detention center in history.” The Army initially awarded a contract worth up to $1.2 billion to a contractor the GAO later found had no experience providing detention services.
According to the report, the Army used a process that did not incorporate flexibility in its contract to adjust for expenses when the facility was not at capacity.
This meant that from Aug. 1 to Aug. 15, 2025, when there were no detainees at the facility, the Army “wasted” up to $11.5 million on the full cost of meals, transportation, guards and medical services, the report said.
After the facility started operations, it paid an additional $423,000 for meals it did not need while the facility was operating below its designated capacity through Sept. 30, 2025, according to the report. After ICE took over the contract, it paid about $7.1 million for meals it did not need from Oct. 1, 2025, through March 12, 2026.
The contract did not include a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan, which the GAO said is used to measure contractor performance and quality. ICE contracting officials told the GAO that this caused significant challenges conducting oversight and addressing problems.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said ICE is “upgrading,” and has contracted a new provider at Camp East Montana.
“This new contractor will allow Camp East Montana to continue abiding by the highest detention standards WITH the ability to provide MORE medical care on-site,” DHS said. “This contract also allows more on-site staff and a PRECISE quality assurance surveillance plan. ICE will have even more oversight of the contractors at this facility. Far from closing, Camp East Montana is upgrading.”
The GAO found that because the contractor at one point was not regularly cleaning dormitories, resulting in unsanitary conditions, “some contract security guards offered detained noncitizens cookies in exchange for cleaning their own dormitories.”
The GAO recommended that ICE pursue flexible contracts, ensure that new facilities meet standards, and that DHS and the Army identify lessons learned for future acquisitions.
The Defense Department said it would implement the recommendation but disagreed with the GAO’s report, arguing that the GAO relied too heavily on information from ICE officials. In response, the GAO said its findings concluded that both DHS and the Army “made decisions that contributed to the serious challenges at Camp East Montana.” The Army said that it had no response beyond what is contained in the report.
