Federal Report: Largest US Immigration Detention Center Wasted Millions in Rushed Opening

The GAO report on Camp East Montana, a 5,000-capacity tent facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, found that the Army and ICE rushed its opening in August 2025 to support the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign, selecting an inexperienced contractor — Acquisition Logistics LLC — for a $1.3 billion contract. The rushed process led to up to $11.5 million wasted before any detainees arrived, millions more wasted on meals billed at full capacity during low occupancy, and a facility that lacked perimeter cameras, ADA-compliant showers, recreation space, and legal visitation areas at opening. Three detainees died at the facility; one death was ruled a homicide by the El Paso County Medical Examiner after a detainee was restrained by guards, and evidence in that case was found to be 'missing or destroyed.' A loaded firearm lost by a security guard in January 2026 had still not been recovered as of March, and inadequate tuberculosis screening allowed an infected detainee to be housed with the general population. Separately, Mamuka Artmeladze, a 43-year-old Georgian immigrant, died on June 4 at Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana — the second death at that facility in less than two months — becoming the 50th person to die in ICE detention during the second Trump administration, which ABC News analysis identifies as the deadliest period for the federal detention system in recent years outside of the COVID-19 pandemic. DHS stated that ICE has replaced Acquisition Logistics with a new contractor, Amentum Services, and that the facility is 'upgrading,' while Democratic lawmakers called for Camp East Montana to be shut down and for accountability over the destruction of evidence.