Aerial view of Camp East Montana, an immigrant detention facility in El Paso, Texas. (Photo courtesy of Government Accountability Office)
WASHINGTON – A hastily built immigration detention facility on a Texas military base wasted millions in federal funds and failed to meet basic standards, according to a report released Tuesday by a nonpartisan government watchdog.
Report by the Government Accountability Office documenting problems at Camp East Montana is one of the first independent investigations into a facility quickly built with $170 billion in immigration enforcement and detainment funding provided by the Republican “Great Beauty” Act passed in July 2025 as part of the president’s mass deportation campaign. The camp is considered the largest immigration detention center in the United States.
The Department of Defense and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement established a gentle holding facility in August 2025 at Camp East Montana at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. It was intended to house as many as 5,000 immigrants and is currently still operated by a private contractor and ICE.
The facility was plagued by several cases of tuberculosis and at least four inmate deaths, one of which was ruled a homicide by the local coroner. American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the government due to inhumane conditions.
“The facility also failed to meet key prison standards, jeopardizing the safety of foreign detainees and staff,” the GAO said.
The report came out this week as the U.S. House of Representatives prepared to take the final steps to pass a A package worth $70 billion funding for immigration enforcement through the end of fiscal year 2029. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill.
Democrats in Congress demanded that the GAO produce a report on Camp East Montana, including Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Gary Peters of Michigan, and Rep. Bennie Thomspon of Mississippi.
Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, expressed his concerns in a statement that the U.S. military was responsible for the rapid construction of the detention camp.
“The avoidable deaths, inhumane conditions and millions of dollars in losses are the direct result of the Pentagon cutting corners and handing over a billion-dollar contract to an inexperienced supplier that developed its own performance standards,” Reed said.
Contract worth $1.3 billion
GAO investigators found that a Department of Defense contract vehicle used to support a $1.3 billion contract for Camp East Montana did not provide flexibility and resulted in workers’ meals and services being paid for during periods when no immigrants were being held at the facility, resulting in millions of dollars being wasted.
For example, the Army covered the full costs of guards, medical services, transportation, meals and other services from Aug. 1, 2025, through Aug. 15, 2025, when there were no prisoners at the facility, resulting in waste of up to $11.5 million, the GAO reported.
“In addition, because the Army set a fixed price for meals based on facility capacity, it paid an additional $423,000 for meals it did not need while the facility operated below designated capacity from August 16, 2025, through September 30, 2025.” – according to the GAO report.
The GAO says the same failures could happen again
GAO investigators also noted that the same mistakes could be made as the Department of Homeland Security continues to decide to spend $38 billion to rebuild warehouses to detain thousands of immigrants.
“GAO notes that ICE’s planned facility expansion — a $38 billion program to convert warehouses into detention facilities using the same contract vehicle — creates the risk of repeating each of these failures on a much larger scale,” the report says.
Investigators made four recommendations, including that ICE consider tiered food pricing to account for fluctuations in the immigrant detention population and that ICE ensure that novel facilities meet detention standards before they house immigrants.
The report noted that DHS and DOD agreed with the recommendations. DOD deferred comment to DHS, which did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment.
A murder investigation has been launched
Investigators also raised concerns about the operate of force, including one in January in which an autopsy determined the detainee’s death was due to asphyxiation and was ruled a homicide.
“However, the contractor failed to provide ICE with use-of-force and fatality reports as required,” the report said. “In addition, evidence related to the incident was missing or destroyed.”
Durbin, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the GAO report “damning.”
“We now know even more details about how dangerous and irresponsible the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign actually is,” he said in a statement. “Excessive use of force, lack of medical and mental health care, and wasted taxpayer dollars are hallmarks of the mass deportation plan. Americans have rightly expressed outrage at this policy, and it is time to hold ICE and its private contractors accountable.”
GAO researchers noted several health problems. They pointed out that none of the prisoners infected with HIV or diabetes had a treatment plan in place.
The facility’s staff also did not follow the proper tuberculosis screening procedure. One contractor used a questionnaire instead of performing the required TB skin tests.
Investigators found that as a result, a detained immigrant with tuberculosis in November was placed in the general immigrant population.
