The Trump administration has awarded a $1.26 billion contract to build and operate a virtually unprecedented 5,000-bed immigration detention facility at Fort Bliss, an Army base near El Paso, Texas, a defense official confirmed to Military.com.
The contract was issued to Acquisition Logistics Company, a relatively small Virginia-based firm with seemingly no notable experience managing large-scale federal projects. According to government contracting records, the company’s previous work has largely focused on just a handful of modest administrative support services with contracts all under $2 million, which is relatively tiny within the defense industry.
The massive Fort Bliss project reflects the Trump administration’s effort to militarize its increasingly aggressive national immigration crackdown, which has entangled American citizens and sparked concerns from lawmakers and activists of human rights abuses. Troops have supported deportation raids and detention operations, and the Pentagon has established expansive national defense zones on the southern U.S. border and deployed thousands of troops there.
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The new detention facility, which is expected to house single adult detainees, will be managed under the authority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and is slated for completion by Sept. 30, 2027. The size and scope of the project make it one of the most significant investments in immigration detention infrastructure in recent years.
Bloomberg first reported the news of the contract on Tuesday.
About $232 million of the camp’s construction cost will come directly from the Army’s coffers, but another defense official explained to Military.com that the service will oversee spending the entire $1.26 billion figure.
The official said that the facility will consist of “temporary soft-sided housing.” Similar structures have been used in prior years along the border to temporarily house families and migrants for Customs and Border Patrol.
It’s unclear whether soldiers will assist with operations at the detention camp. The second defense official told Military.com there are no plans to do so, but troops may serve as perimeter security, the official added.
A spokesperson with Acquisition Logistics Company did not respond to a request for comment when asked questions about medical resources at the camp and who will provide security.
That defense official described the arrangement as essentially “an ICE facility that the Army is paying for.”
Meanwhile, about 70 Florida National Guardsmen are providing security at the impromptu immigration camp swiftly established deep in the Florida Everglades, which the administration has dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” Additional bases are also set to host camps for immigrant prisoners, including Camp Atterbury in Indiana and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, often referred to as just Fort Dix, in New Jersey.
In March, the Army was approved to build a new immigration facility at Fort Bliss. Civil rights advocates in Texas told Military.com at that time they were concerned about what conditions would be like at such a facility.
“Those conditions will be deplorable,” Danny Woodward, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, said at the time. “The military is not set up to do that, right now, well.”
Other defense experts questioned what message the establishment of a new detention camp sends — not just to the American public but also to the troops.
Military.com also reported in May that the Pentagon was shifting $1 billion of Army funds slated to be used for barracks instead to support the mass deployment of active-duty troops to the U.S. southern border as part of the administration’s effort to clamp down on migration.
Jennifer Kavanagh, the director of military analysis at the Defense Priorities think tank in Washington, D.C., said that, in addition to the further integration of the military into immigration enforcement, such moves also showcase that funds that could be used to improve the quality of life of troops are being pushed aside.
“Is this really the best use of military resources? We know that junior staff, junior officers and enlisted personnel who are staying in military barracks face mold and other types of problems in their housing,” Kavanagh told Military.com. “So is building tent facilities to house migrants really the best use of DoD funding, or any funding? If we’re gonna build anything on military bases, shouldn’t it be to help service members?”
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