The Trump administration will use Camp East Montana to further its effort to detain and deport migrants.
By Sarah Bahari
Staff writer
Christian Chavez / AP
A sprawling immigrant detention center is set to open this weekend in Texas as part of an effort by the Trump administration to detain and deport migrants.
The El Paso-area center at Fort Bliss will accept up to 1,000 detainees beginning Sunday. Over the next two years, officials plan to expand the total capacity to 5,000, which would make it the largest immigrant detention facility in the U.S.
“Upon completion, this will be the largest federal detention center in history for this critical mission — the deportation of illegal aliens,“ Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told reporters during a briefing this month.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Defense in July announced plans for the facility, called Camp East Montana. Acquisition Logistics, a Virginia-based firm, was awarded $232 million to build the tent camp.
Migrants will be housed in canvas tents and be given access to legal representation, a law library and recreational space, ICE officials told Border Report. The agency did not immediately respond to an email seeking more information Monday from The Dallas Morning News.
The El Paso County Commission will consider a resolution opposing the operation Monday. The resolution was introduced by commissioner Jackie Butler, who said on Instagram she wants transparency and accountability from the federal government.
Also Monday, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn toured the facility, which he called the “Lone Star Lockup” during a briefing with news reporters. Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said only single adults accused or convicted of crimes will be detained at the center.
“We’re not talking about gardeners, housekeepers or people like that,” said Cornyn, who is up for reelection during next year’s midterm election.
The Trump administration is scrambling to find more detention space, as its plans to arrest more than 1 million immigrants a year have led to overcrowded and sometimes dangerous conditions in facilities across the country. Administration officials say ICE officers are aiming to arrest 3,000 people a day.
The deportation efforts have forced the administration to seek detention space outside typical locations such as jails and prisons.
Human Rights Watch released a report last month that found people detained at three south Florida ICE facilities said they were sleeping on cold concrete floors without bedding and women were being forced to use toilets in front of men, among other issues.
In addition to Fort Bliss, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress military bases in New Jersey and Indiana would be used as temporary immigration detention centers. Federal officials have begun using a tent facility in the remote Florida Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” to house immigrants.
Detainees and their relatives and advocates have told The Associated Press that conditions are awful, with worm-infested food, toilets overflowing onto floors, mosquitoes buzzing around the fenced bunks and air conditioners that sometimes shut off in the oppressive South Florida summer heat.
Last week, a federal judge ordered a temporary pause in construction at the Florida center after environmental advocates argued the facility has the potential to cause serious harm to sensitive wetlands and endangered species.
Bloomberg News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
