Key takeaways:
- The GAO found that a loaded firearm lost by a contracted security guard at Camp East Montana in January had not been recovered as of March.
- The watchdog said detainees with diabetes or HIV had no treatment plans, and required tuberculosis testing was not properly administered.
- The report found up to $11.5 million was wasted during a two-week period when the facility had no detainees, with millions more spent on unneeded meals.
A government watchdog found serious safety, health and oversight failures at the nation’s largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, including a lost loaded firearm, inadequate tuberculosis testing, poor medical care for detainees with chronic illnesses and millions of dollars in waste.
The Government Accountability Office report, published Tuesday, examined Camp East Montana, a tented ICE detention facility at Fort Bliss outside El Paso, Texas. The site has capacity for 5,000 detainees and was announced by the Defense Department last summer as the “largest federal detention center in history.” It opened in August 2025.
The GAO said the Army and ICE moved quickly to award and operate the facility, but that the rushed planning and contracting contributed to serious problems.
“While the Army and ICE’s planning and acquisition approach for Camp East Montana enabled them to award the contract quickly, it contributed to negative outcomes during facility operations,” the GAO said. “These issues contributed to waste of government resources and threats to the health and life of detained noncitizens and staff at the facility.”
From August 2025 to March 2026, the facility experienced major incidents, including two detainee deaths reviewed by the GAO. One detainee’s death by asphyxiation in January was later determined by an autopsy and local coroner to be a homicide and is now under criminal investigation. NBC News reported the FBI and the inspector general are investigating. The GAO also said evidence tied to that death was missing or destroyed, and that a contractor failed to provide required use-of-force and death reports to ICE.
Another detainee died by suicide in January after being left “unattended for intervals longer than 15 minutes,” the report said.
The watchdog also found that a contracted security guard lost a loaded firearm at the facility in January. Despite several searches, the gun had not been recovered as of March.
Health care lapses were also documented. The GAO said required tuberculosis tests were not administered and that contractors relied on symptom questionnaires instead. That failure led to a detainee with tuberculosis being housed with the general population in November, according to the report. NBC News reported that the facility has had outbreaks of both tuberculosis and measles.
In December, ICE Health Services Corps found the contractor had not followed up with comprehensive health assessments. As a result, detainees with chronic conditions did not receive treatment and care required under National Detention Standards. “For example, none of the detained noncitizens with diabetes or HIV had treatment plans in place,” the GAO said.
The report also cited unsanitary conditions. At one point, the contractor was not regularly cleaning dormitories, and “some contract security guards offered detained noncitizens cookies in exchange for cleaning their own dormitories,” the GAO said.
The GAO found significant waste tied to the contract structure. The Army initially awarded a contract worth up to $1.2 billion to a contractor the GAO found had no experience providing detention services. Because the contract lacked flexibility to adjust costs when the facility was not at capacity, the Army “wasted” up to $11.5 million on meals, transportation, guards and medical services from Aug. 1 to Aug. 15, 2025, when no detainees were held there. The report said the Army later paid an additional $423,000 for meals it did not need through Sept. 30, and ICE paid about $7.1 million for unneeded meals from Oct. 1, 2025, through March 12, 2026.
The contract also lacked a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan, which the GAO said is used to measure contractor performance and quality. ICE contracting officials told the watchdog that made oversight and problem-solving significantly harder.
NBC News reported that ICE terminated the contractor running the facility, Acquisition Logistics, LLC, in mid-March. The company did not immediately respond to NBC’s request for comment.
The Department of Homeland Security said ICE has hired a new provider. “This new contractor will allow Camp East Montana to continue abiding by the highest detention standards WITH the ability to provide MORE medical care on-site,” DHS said. “ICE will have even more oversight of the contractors at this facility. Far from closing, Camp East Montana is upgrading.”
The GAO recommended that ICE pursue more flexible contracts, ensure new facilities meet standards, and that DHS and the Army identify lessons for future acquisitions. The Defense Department said it would implement the recommendation but disagreed with the report, arguing the GAO relied too heavily on ICE officials. The GAO responded that both DHS and the Army “made decisions that contributed to the serious challenges at Camp East Montana.”
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