ICE detainee dies in El Paso detention center
A Nicaraguan immigrant in ICE custody died during deportation, authorities said.
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Federal authorities wasting tens of millions of dollars, losing loaded firearms and detainees, and violating internal guidelines for housing detainees in their rush to open a massive immigration detention center in Texas, according to a new study by the Government Accountability Office.
Most of the issues are related to federal authorities’ decision to allow the military to build a vast tent city at Camp East Montana, which was then taken over by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the GAO said. The report also said ICE officials failed to inspect the $1.3 billion facility before sending detainees to Army Fort Bliss outside El Paso in August 2025.
Camp East Montana is the largest immigrant detention center in the country and can hold up to 5,000 people. In January 2026, the death of a detainee inside the facility was ruled a homicide by asphyxiation. GAO said evidence in the case was lost or destroyed. GAO is Congress’ research agency.
“These problems contributed to a waste of government resources and threats to the health and lives of detained noncitizens and facility personnel,” GAO said in the report. “The Army and ICE’s planning and acquisition approach to Camp East Montana allowed for rapid contract award, which contributed to negative outcomes during facility operations.”
Federal authorities created Camp East Montana as part of President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown, arguing that using existing military construction contracts would allow them to act more quickly than under civilian rules.
Homeland Security officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report. ICE officials rated the facility “acceptable/adequate” in an April 2026 internal review that cited many of the same issues as the GAO report.
GAO said the differences in how the Army and ICE approached the project created a series of other problems.
- Detainees with highly contagious tuberculosis were housed with the general population because camp administrators failed to properly screen for tuberculosis.
- Guards bribed detainees with cookies to clean their detention areas. Additionally, ICE paid for meals for months that were not provided, as the contract required full payment regardless of the number of people actually in custody.
- In March 2026, detainees escaped from the facility, which ICE officials blamed on a contractor’s failure to track the detainees. It is not clear from the GAO report whether the detainees were remanded in custody.
- Also in March, ICE officials announced they had not recovered a loaded weapon lost by a contracted security guard in January.
- In January 2026, a detainee died by suicide after being left alone in a medical detention room and not being checked every 15 minutes as required.
The facility has also experienced a measles outbreak, and immigrant rights groups are suing the federal government over conditions.
Former detainees held at Camp East Montana detailed consistent mistreatment by guards in interviews with the USA TODAY Network, echoing allegations made in the lawsuit. They reported being called “donkeys,” told to shut up, and threats against the detainees’ loved ones.
Congressional Democrats called for a GAO investigation. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said in a statement that the conditions at Camp East Montana “shocked the conscience.”
Durbin said, “Not only does the regime often unjustly detain people, but those detained experience conditions that shock their conscience. Excessive use of force, lack of medical and psychological care, and wasted taxpayer dollars are the hallmarks of this mass deportation program. Americans have rightly expressed outrage at these policies, and it is time to hold ICE and its private contractors accountable.”
The GAO report said it hopes federal officials can learn lessons from the report and apply them to ongoing plans to open large warehouse-based detention centers across the country.
“Both the Army and the Department of Homeland Security have made decisions that contribute to serious problems at Camp East Montana. As a result, we continue to believe that both agencies should evaluate their acquisitions and identify lessons that will inform future acquisitions that support ICE’s detention operations,” GAO said.
