- ICE is reportedly drafting a termination letter for the Camp East Montana detention contract at Fort Bliss.
- The facility faces intense scrutiny following three deaths in custody and a significant measles outbreak.
- A $1.2 billion contract with Acquisition Logistics LLC is under rigorous audit by the DHS.
(EL PASO, TEXAS) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is preparing to close Camp East Montana at Fort Bliss by drafting a termination letter for its contract with Acquisition Logistics LLC, The Guardian reported, as the detention facility faces scrutiny over deaths in custody, allegations of abuse and a measles outbreak.
The internal ICE memo cited by The Guardian indicates the agency intends to end a contract valued at roughly $1.2 billion, though ICE has not publicly confirmed a final closure decision or announced a closure date as of early March 2026.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed the contract remains under review through “rigorous audits and inspections,” while saying no decision has been made on extension or termination.
Camp East Montana opened in August 2025 as a large-scale ICE detention facility on the Fort Bliss army base, part of the government’s reliance on contracted operators to hold migrants during immigration proceedings.
The site was built to hold about 5,000 detainees, but the detained population later fell to around 1,500, a shift that can reflect transfers, enforcement priorities and bed management across the detention system.
Acquisition Logistics LLC operates the facility under a federal contract with ICE, tying the company’s performance to federal detention standards and compliance reviews.
The Guardian reported that three detainees have died at Camp East Montana, including cases described as suspicious or violent and one apparent suicide, placing the facility under intensified public attention less than eight months after it opened.
One of the deaths involved 55-year-old Cuban detainee Geraldo Lunas Campos in January 2026. The account reported that ICE initially described his death as medical distress, then later said it involved “spontaneous use of force” to prevent self-harm, and that the death was ruled a homicide.
Health concerns have also drawn attention to the facility. The Associated Press reported that a measles outbreak led to at least 14 active cases and the isolation of more than 100 detainees, and that the facility temporarily closed to visitors and attorneys.
That AP reporting, along with additional accounts based on 911 calls from the facility, described repeated concerns involving medical neglect, overcrowding and severe distress among detainees, adding to pressure on the detention operation at Fort Bliss.
Advocates and attorneys have alleged overcrowding, poor medical access, guard violence and unsanitary conditions at Camp East Montana, placing the facility among the most scrutinized detention sites in the country.
The internal ICE document referenced in The Guardian report indicates staff received notice that the agency is drafting a termination letter. The contract is set to expire on September 30, 2027, a timeline that underscores how unusual it is for a large new detention site to face possible closure so soon after opening.
A DHS spokesperson framed the review as a standards-focused process, emphasizing compliance with “high standards,” while not identifying specific triggers for the review in public comments.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose district includes El Paso, criticized the facility and framed it as emblematic of broader oversight and accountability problems. Escobar called the facility the “epitome of fraud, waste, [and] abuse,” adding: “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.”
El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson also issued a statement on social media responding to the reports, a sign of local political attention to a federal detention operation housed on a major army base at the edge of the city.
Attorneys who visit the site have linked the reported closure plans to fears about detainee welfare and the mechanics of moving people in custody. Robert Held, an attorney who has visited the facility multiple times representing clients, welcomed the possibility of a shutdown while warning that people could still be moved elsewhere.
“I am happy that ICE has recognized the human rights disaster that they’ve created,” Held said, while also pointing to uncertainty over a closing date and what will happen to the people detained at the camp.
Held said he expected transfers to other facilities rather than releases, a view echoed by advocates who worry that shutting one site can lead to detainees being dispersed across distant locations.
Crystal Sandoval of the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center said she feared detainees could be sent to “something worse,” reflecting concern that transfers can expose people to different conditions, different medical systems and barriers to legal access.
The reported preparations to close Camp East Montana come as the Trump administration pursues broader detention expansion that, on its own terms, does not depend on any single facility. Reuters reported in February that ICE plans to spend more than $38 billion on detention centers across the United States in 2026, including opening large new facilities and expanding overall bed capacity as the administration scales up arrests and removals.
That broader spending plan means the reported closure at Fort Bliss does not, by itself, indicate a reduction in the government’s overall use of immigration detention, even as the administration confronts repeated controversies tied to conditions, oversight and public health.
Camp East Montana’s size and high profile made it symbolically important in the administration’s detention posture in Texas, a state that hosts a large share of federal immigration detention capacity. The facility’s rapid ramp-up, followed by the emergence of death investigations and a measles outbreak, turned it into a focal point for questions about whether large, fast-starting operations can meet federal detention requirements.
The measles response described by the AP, including isolating more than 100 detainees and temporarily closing the facility to visitors and attorneys, also highlighted how health measures can intersect with access to counsel, a core issue in immigration detention because detained people often rely on in-person legal visits to prepare cases.
In practical terms, the most immediate consequence of any shutdown would involve moving detainees out of Camp East Montana, a process that can reshape access to attorneys and families depending on where people are taken. Transfers can also disrupt case preparation, especially for detainees whose lawyers are based in El Paso and who depend on regular communication to gather documents, prepare testimony and meet deadlines.
Medical continuity can also come into question when detainees move between facilities, particularly when outbreaks, chronic conditions or mental health crises have been reported. The facility’s measles outbreak, combined with allegations of poor medical care, has amplified those worries among advocates focused on whether people receive consistent treatment when they are relocated.
Even if Camp East Montana closes, the scrutiny surrounding it has reinforced broader questions that extend across the detention system, including how ICE monitors contractors, how audits and inspections translate into enforcement actions, and how the government responds after deaths, violence allegations or public health emergencies emerge inside locked facilities.
For El Paso, the reports have added to the city’s long-running role as a center of federal immigration enforcement activity, with Fort Bliss serving as a major federal footprint in the region and Camp East Montana drawing national attention far beyond West Texas.
The DHS spokesperson’s emphasis on “rigorous audits and inspections” sets the official posture as a compliance review rather than an announced decision, leaving the timing and scope of any closure unconfirmed even as elected officials and legal advocates press for answers.
Held, who said he was glad ICE acknowledged what he called a “human rights disaster,” pointed to the lingering question at the center of the reported closure effort: where the people held at Camp East Montana will go next, and whether the system receiving them will offer anything better than what has been alleged at Fort Bliss.
