The country’s largest immigration detention center opened so hastily in Texas last year that it failed to meet national standards for safety and security and has wasted millions of dollars on unnecessary services, according to a federal report released on Tuesday.
The facility, called Camp East Montana, which is at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, was rushed to completion in 2025 to make space for the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign and has been mired in controversy ever since.
Many of the migrants at Camp East Montana, which can hold around 5,000 detainees, have described harrowing conditions, and three people have since died there.
The Army awarded and administered a $1.3 billion contract to open the center last August, according to the report released on Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan agency that helps Congress keep track of federal spending. It handed contract administration duties to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in October.
The G.A.O. said in its report that “expedited time frames directed by senior leadership” drove ICE and Army officials to rush their decision-making in ways that hurt the project — prompting, for example, the Army to prioritize low costs and choose a contractor that did not have experience with detention services.
In the process, the report found, the Army chose a contract that was not flexible enough to account for low occupancy at the facility. During the first half of August, it spent up to $11.5 million on guards, medical services, transportation, meals and other services — even though there were no migrants being detained yet at the center.
The report also found that the facility lacked some important features when it opened, including security cameras on the perimeter, outdoor areas for recreation, and visitation spaces for lawyers and family members of the detainees. ICE did not spot those deficiencies in time, the report added, because it did not inspect the facility before detaining people there, in contradiction of the agency’s own policies.
“After the facility opened, ICE reported additional problems, including gaps in medical services, the loss of a loaded firearm and unsanitary conditions, among other issues,” the report said.
In March, the Department of Homeland Security said it was reviewing its contract for Camp East Montana. And on Tuesday, a D.H.S. spokesperson said in an email that ICE had “contracted with a new provider following the termination of the old contract inherited from the Department of War,” and that it was always looking for ways to improve its detention centers.
The spokesperson added that the new contractor would be able to provide more staff members, more medical care and better quality assurance.
“ICE will have even more oversight of the contractors at this facility,” the statement said. “Far from closing, Camp East Montana is upgrading.”
The old contractor, Acquisition Logistics, a company based in Virginia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did Amentum Services, which took over operations at the facility after it was awarded a contract in March.
Heather MacLeod, the director of the homeland security and justice team at the G.A.O., said in an interview that the agency would keep track of the facility’s progress in addressing the issues outlined in the report.
Homeland security officials have already agreed to improve inspection practices and to look into cost-saving measures, according to the report, such as a tiered pricing plan for meals and other services at the facility.
The Defense Department said in a letter to the G.A.O. last month that it would conduct an assessment to “determine lessons learned,” but added that the report was not entirely accurate because it “did not sufficiently incorporate” the department’s perspective.
The report was prompted by a congressional request last year. G.A.O. officials are reviewing ICE detention practices across the United States, but they decided to issue a separate report focusing on Camp East Montana after visiting the facility last September.
Representative Bennie Thompson, a Democrat of Mississippi who is the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement on Tuesday that D.H.S. should be held to account “for its treatment of migrants and its flagrant waste of taxpayer funds.”
For months, several Democratic lawmakers have been calling for the detention center to close. In February, two dozen members of Congress wrote a letter to D.H.S. officials, asking them to shut down the camp, citing the deaths, sewage problems, poor meals and a lack of access to legal help.
In April, ICE itself reported dozens of violations of national standards at the facility, including instances that may have exposed detainees to illnesses and uses of force that were not properly documented.
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