U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement rushed the establishment of the Camp East Montana immigrant detention center, resulting in overspending and major lapses in security at the El Paso facility, according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The June 9 report also outlined negligence in health care and sanitation.
ICE did not inspect the facility prior to opening, which resulted in the detention center opening without perimeter security cameras or space for attorney and family visitation, according to the report.
“A loaded gun taken onto a military installation by a private contractor who lost this weapon; evidence in a homicide investigation that was destroyed; tens of millions of taxpayer dollars paid in this no-bid contract that funded services not rendered,” U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar of El Paso said in a Tuesday news release.
“These findings confirm some of what I have been sounding the alarm about since it first opened ten months ago, but incredulously, doesn’t come close to identifying everything I’ve discovered and shared with the public during my oversight visits.”
The Government Accountability Office, or GAO, audits and investigates how federal funds are spent. The federal watchdog agency provides Congress with information and makes recommendations for improvements. It does not have the power to regulate and enforce change.
The GAO report comes several months after a three-day ICE inspection found dozens of violations that exposed detainees to excessive force and disease, leading the ACLU of Texas and other legal and human rights organizations to file a lawsuit against ICE over inhumane conditions at the East Montana Detention Facility, as it is formally named.
Camp East Montana, located on the Fort Bliss Army post, is the largest immigrant detention facility in the country. At least three people have died at the facility, including one death ruled a homicide by the El Paso County medical examiner.
Earlier this year, the detention center had a measles outbreak that spread into the community. Missing information and delays in communication from the involved authorities hindered the El Paso health department’s ability to contact trace. Camp East Montana quarantined detainees again this month after another possible measles exposure, but El Paso public health officials didn’t learn about it for days.
In March, ICE fired Camp East Montana contractor Acquisition Logistics and in April replaced it with Amentum Holdings, a service provider based in Virginia, to oversee operations. The detention facility retained its medical provider, Loyal Source, despite its track record of dubious health care.
“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,” ICE spokesperson Leticia Zamarripa said in an email statement Tuesday.
“This contract also allows more on-site staff and a precise quality assurance surveillance plan. ICE will have even more oversight of the contractors at this facility. Far from closing, Camp East Montana is upgrading.”
Millions spent on services not used
Prior to Camp East Montana’s opening Aug. 16, 2025, the Army paid for two weeks of guards, medical services, transportation and meals – despite the facility housing no detainees at the time.
“GAO found that the Army did not incorporate flexibilities in the contract to account for occupancy levels below the maximum, resulting in millions of dollars in waste,” the report reads.
The office found that ICE could have saved tens of millions of dollars through September 2026 by adding cost-saving measures, such as tiered pricing for meals to account for fluctuations in the detainee population, rather than a fixed price. Despite switching to a new contractor in April, ICE did not incorporate these cost-saving measures into the new contract and continues to pay for unused meals.
Lost firearm, inadequate disease screening among health, safety oversights
The GAO outlined numerous oversights in health and safety protocols that threatened the lives of detainees, facility staff and the public.
When Camp East Montana opened in August 2025, the facility did not have a classification in place for detainees based on their previous criminal records. As a result, high-risk and low-risk detainees were housed together.
In November 2025, a detainee with tuberculosis was placed in the general population. The highly contagious disease, if left untreated, can destroy the lungs and cause respiratory failure.
LEARN MORE: How measles reporting gaps by ICE, hospital delayed El Paso’s response to outbreak
The failure to identify and isolate the tuberculosis case was the result of inadequate screening, according to a Dec. 3 ICE report noted by GAO. The contractor used a tuberculosis symptom questionnaire for detainees upon intake, rather than administering the required skin tests within 12 hours of arrival at the facility.
A December 2025 visit from ICE Health Services Corps also found that while the contractor conducted health screenings at intake, it did not follow up with comprehensive health assessments as required. As a result, none of the detainees with diabetes or HIV had treatment plans in place, according to the report.
In January, a contract security guard at Camp East Montana lost their loaded firearm at the facility. The gun was unrecovered as of March, despite searches of the facility.
In March, ICE issued a discrepancy report because the contractor did not clean the dormitories for detainees every day as required, resulting in unsanitary conditions. Instead, the dormitories were cleaned once a week and some contract security guards bribed detainees with cookies in exchange for cleaning their own dormitories.
Failures to follow protocols in deaths of detainees
The GAO report also identified lapses in procedures surrounding two detainees who died in January: 55-year-old Cuban Geraldo Lunas Campos and 36-year-old Nicaraguan Victor Manuel Diaz.
INVESTIGATION: ICE detainees are dying by suicide at an ‘alarming’ rate, an AP investigation finds
Lunas Campos died from homicide due to asphyxia, according to the coroner’s autopsy. But investigations into the homicide were undermined after the contractor did not provide a use of force and death reports to ICE, which include staff witnesses.
“In addition, evidence associated with the incident was missing or destroyed,” the GAO report noted.
Diaz died by suicide. Despite exhibiting risk factors for suicide, staff left him unattended and placed him in a medical holding room that did not have vision panels for line of sight to the detainee. Providers are required to place at-risk detainees in a suicide-resistant cell and monitor them every 15 minutes, according to the GAO report.
GAO made several recommendations to federal agencies involved with Camp East Montana: Incorporate cost-saving measures, ensure ICE facilities are inspected and meet detention standards prior to opening, and assess future acquisitions.
Alana Park, legal fellow at the Texas Civil Rights Project, said the organization has heard from people detained at Camp East Montana about many of the violations in medical care, use of force and cleanliness highlighted in the GAO report.
“While we hope conditions will improve as soon as possible, ICE and the other involved government agencies have been aware of the issues at the facility since at least 2025, and haven’t fixed them, so it is hard to believe that will change now,” Park said in an email to El Paso Matters. “Camp East Montana clearly was not ready to safely house anyone when it was opened, and it still isn’t today.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
REPORT FINDINGS
The U.S. Government Accountability Office report published Tuesday also outlines the following:
Unmet requirements within first two months of opening
- The post responsible for monitoring security camera footage for all areas of the facility was understaffed.
- There were no accommodations for detainees using wheelchairs.
- Detainees are allowed one hour of daily outdoor recreation time, but there was inefficient space to accommodate people.
Ongoing issues
- No evidence of dieticians reviewing menus for detainees.
- Contractor did not meet transportation schedule, resulting in delayed departure flights or rescheduled immigration hearings.
- A detainee escaped from Camp East Montana. ICE oversight officials attributed the escape to the contractor’s inability to account for detainees.
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