GAO Report Finds Mismanagement and Deaths at ICE’s Largest Tent Facility, but New Contractor Promises Higher Standards

A federal report released Tuesday found that mismanagement at Camp East Montana created unsafe conditions that contributed to detainee deaths and wasted millions in tax dollars. The Government Accountability Office examined the sprawling tent facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, which opened in August before construction was complete.

Three detainees have died there in little more than six months.

The Trump administration routed the contract through the Army to speed construction after ICE twice failed to award one. 3 billion deal. 5 million for guards, medical services, transportation and meals in the weeks before any detainees arrived.

Additional millions were wasted because the contract paid for meals for a maximum population of 5,000 even when the actual number of detainees fell to around 1,600. The facility lacked required security cameras and had surveillance blind spots that raised risks of sexual assaults or escapes. It had no ADA-compliant showers and could not accommodate detainees using wheelchairs.

The contractor failed to administer required tuberculosis skin tests, relying on a questionnaire instead. This allowed a detainee with tuberculosis to be housed with the general population, leading to an outbreak. A detainee escaped in October due to what ICE called the contractor's oversight failure.

In January, a security guard lost a loaded firearm inside the facility that was never recovered. Evidence related to the January death of a 55-year-old Cuban migrant was missing or destroyed, the report found. An outside autopsy ruled the death a homicide due to asphyxia after the detainee was held down by guards.

A 36-year-old Nicaraguan detainee died by suicide in January after being placed in a medical holding room instead of a suicide-resistant cell and left unattended for intervals longer than 15 minutes. Staff could not see into the room because vision panels requested months earlier had not been installed. The contractor did not provide required use-of-force and death reports to ICE.