A federal watchdog agency said Camp East Montana, the country’s largest immigration detention facility, wasted up to $11.5 million of taxpayer money during its first two weeks of operation in August 2025.
During that time, the camp in El Paso was still empty — the first detainees didn’t arrive until Aug. 16.
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A report published Tuesday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office has shed new light on the facility’s operations, already under heavy public scrutiny after a congressionally mandated inspection found dozens of violations in April, followed by a lawsuit by a group of legal and civil rights organizations a month later.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement rushed the opening of the detention camp at the Fort Bliss Army base, the GAO report found, resulting in “millions of dollars in waste.” The agency failed to “treat detained noncitizens humanely,” meet legal and policy-based obligations to maintain a safe and secure environment, and fix “serious gaps in medical services and inadequate weapons control procedures,” the report said.
The camp opened without security cameras on the perimeter fencing, blind spots abounded throughout the facility and the team in charge of monitoring the facility’ security cameras was understaffed, “increasing the risk of a sexual assault or an escape,” the report said.
Indeed, an inmate managed to escape last October.
“ICE did not identify these issues prior to opening Camp East Montana because it did not conduct a pre-occupancy inspection,” according to the GAO report.
On Jan. 26, a contract security guard lost a loaded firearm inside the camp. As of March, ICE had not recovered the gun, the report said.
“The incident exposed the staff, detained noncitizens, and the public to significant risk, including potential unauthorized access to firearms,” the report says.
The GAO report also pointed to problems highlighted in previous inspections and the civil rights organizations’ lawsuit, including the contractor’s failure to provide use of force and death reports after the asphyxiation death of a detainee; ignoring health protocols by failing to quarantine a detainee with tuberculosis; failing to give treatment to detainees with diabetes and HIV; and being unprepared to accommodate detainees who needed wheelchairs.
The report also said dormitories were cleaned only once a week, instead of the required once a day.
Under White House orders to create more detention space for undocumented immigrants as soon as possible, ICE hurried to open Camp East Montana, with a capacity for 5,000 people divided into five housing units made of steel-framed tent-like structures.
As ICE struggled to find a contractor to run the facility, it empowered the Army to find one. Acquisition Logistics LLC, a company with no experience in the detention field, received a $1.3 billion contract to run the camp while ICE provided “operational support.”
In March, ICE terminated the contract with Acquisition Logistics after the death of three detainees, a measles outbreak and mounting allegations of human rights violations. ICE selected Amentum Services, Inc., a former subcontractor, as the replacement.
According to GAO, the contract the Army signed with Acquisition prevented ICE from cutting unnecessary expenses even after it took over Camp East Montana. For example, ICE was required to pay the full cost of meals and operational services for 5,000 people, even though by the end of February, it held only 1,600 people.
“ICE is always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement to The Texas Tribune. “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. This contract also allows more on-site staff and a precise quality assurance surveillance plan.”
Last month, the ACLU of Texas, the ACLU, the Texas Civil Rights Project and law firm Farella Braun + Martel filed a federal lawsuit against the detention center, calling the situation at Camp East Montana “unsustainable.”
“The conditions for those in detention are unsafe and inhumane, and the facility drains millions of dollars of taxpayer funds,” Alana Park, legal fellow at the Texas Civil Rights Project, said Tuesday.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat who has repeatedly denounced the conditions at the detention center, said, “Camp East Montana needs to be shut down, the contractor investigated, the crime of destruction of evidence referred to law enforcement, and Republicans should work with us to redirect these funds to meet the needs of hardworking Americans.”
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