The Standing

A daily, non-partisan record of US democratic norms — and the events that erode them.

    GAO finds ICE wasted up to $11.5M and endangered detainees in rushed Camp East Montana launch

    On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report (GAO-26-108886) finding that ICE rushed the opening of Camp East Montana, the nation's largest immigration detention facility and a tent camp at the Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso, wasting up to $11.5 million during its first two weeks in August 2025 while the camp sat empty. The watchdog found ICE awarded a roughly $1.3 billion operating contract to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a firm with no detention experience, and documented unsafe conditions including a contract guard's loss of a loaded firearm that was never recovered and the contractor's failure to provide required use-of-force and death reports. ICE terminated the Acquisition Logistics contract in March after three detainee deaths, a measles outbreak, and mounting human-rights allegations.

    Jurisdiction
    federal
    Location
    El Paso, Texas

    Abuses documented

    Actors

    • U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
    • Acquisition Logistics LLC
    • U.S. Department of Homeland Security

    Why we recorded this

    When the government detains people, it owes the public two duties at once: to spend taxpayer money honestly and to keep those in its custody safe. An independent congressional watchdog found that ICE failed both at Camp East Montana, rushing the facility open without a basic pre-occupancy inspection, paying millions for an empty camp, and steering a roughly $1.3 billion operating contract to a company with no detention experience. Competitive-procurement rules exist so public money follows need rather than haste or favor; custodial-safety obligations exist because the state is wholly responsible for people it confines. A formal oversight finding that both broke down at the nation's largest immigration detention center, amid detainee deaths and a loaded firearm lost inside the camp and never recovered, documents how administrative shortcuts become public harms.

    Sources

    1. Government watchdog says Texas detention center wasted up to $11.5 million before detainees arrived — The Texas Tribune primary accessed June 10, 2026
    2. 'Millions of dollars in waste:' Federal report shows failures at ICE Camp East Montana — El Paso Matters primary accessed June 10, 2026
    3. Immigration Detention: Waste and Performance Issues at Camp East Montana Provide Valuable Lessons for Future Facilities (GAO-26-108886) — U.S. Government Accountability Office secondary accessed June 10, 2026
    4. Largest ICE detention facility wasted millions and put detainees at risk, report finds — Associated Press (via Anchorage Daily News) secondary accessed June 10, 2026

    See also