DHS responds to report ICE’s biggest camp could be closing

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has responded to reports that Camp East Montana, a large immigrant detention facility at Fort Bliss, Texas, may be shut down less than eight months after opening.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing to terminate its $1.2-billion contract with Acquisition Logistics, the contractor responsible for building and operating the facility, according to internal documents first reviewed by The Washington Post. The contract, awarded in July 2025, was originally set to run through September 2027, per the report. The documents did not include a timeline or explanation for the potential closure, the outlet reported. Newsweek has not reviewed the memo.

In a statement, DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Newsweek that the agency “is reviewing this facility and contract. No decisions have been made related to contract extension, termination, or award.”

 “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. The contract for Camp East Montana was inherited from the Department of War. DHS undergoes rigorous audits and inspections of our facilities to ensure they are meeting our high standards,” Bis added.

Why It Matters

Camp East Montana, located on the Fort Bliss U.S. Army base near the southern border, was established as part of White House efforts to expand detention capacity to keep pace with rising immigration arrests.

Newsweek has previously revealed allegations that detainees at Camp East Montana have faced unsanitary, overcrowded, and restrictive conditions inside a sprawling tent complex.

Detainees reported poor sanitation that caused health problems, lack of access to basic hygiene supplies such as tampons, visible mold in showers, and verbal harassment from guards. Others said they were left uncomfortably cold, with requests for heat ignored or met by turning up the air conditioning, and some described being denied access to natural light and being told they could not speak with their attorneys. 

The DHS, which leads ICE and Border Patrol, is conducting an aggressive mass deportation program across the country, raising questions about whether facilities can meet basic health and safety standards for those in custody.

What To Know

“While reports of its closure are cause for a sigh of relief, it does not mean an end to my determination to seek accountability, both for Acquisition Logistics and DHS,” Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat, said in a statement.

“It also does not mean the Trump administration will not continue to exploit El Paso for their immigration enforcement purposes—including with the administration’s purchase of warehouses in Socorro. Our community must remain vigilant and committed to the continued fight while rejoicing that this dark chapter is over.”

Since its opening in August 2025, three migrants have died at the $1- billion facility, according to a Newsweek review of ICE detainee death reports. In January, the death of a Cuban detainee, Geraldo Lunas Campos, was later ruled a homicide by a local medical examiner, according to The Washington Post.

Camp East Montana is currently closed to visitors and attorneys until March 19 or 20 due to a measles outbreak, with 14 confirmed cases and 112 detainees in isolation, according to Escobar. The outbreak follows previous COVID-19 and tuberculosis cases at the facility, she added.

Camp East Montana in El Paso holds about 3,000 detainees daily, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data collection by a research group at Syracuse University, while The Washington Post reported the facilities population has fallen to roughly 1,500 detainees in recent weeks, about half the number it held in January.

Records show that the federal contract to build and operate Camp East Montana was awarded to Acquisition Logistics, a Virginia-based small business with no prior experience managing a detention facility under an Army-administered contract.

What People Are Saying

Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat, said in a press release: “The Trump administration has used El Paso as ground zero for its sick, twisted immigration enforcement policies for years, and Camp East Montana is no different. It represents the epitome of fraud, waste, abuse, and the exploitation of human suffering at the hands of private prison corporations and the Trump administration.”

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