$1.2 Billion Deal Turns Army Base Into Immigration Detention Center

The Trump administration is set to open the country’s largest immigration detention center at Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas, under a $1.2 billion contract awarded by the Department of Defense. The facility, capable of holding up to 5,000 migrants at a time, is part of a sweeping expansion of detention capacity amid a renewed push for mass deportations.

The five-year contract, awarded to Virginia-based Acquisition Logistics LLC, will fund the construction and operation of a large tent facility on the military base. According to the contract terms, operations will continue through September 30, 2027.

“We’re looking for any available bed space we can get that meets the detention standards we’re accustomed to,” said Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s border czar. “The faster we get the beds, the more people we can take off the street.”

The expansion follows the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a Trump-backed spending package that allocates $45 billion to immigration enforcement. The funding will double Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention capacity, with a goal of holding 100,000 individuals at any given time.

The administration is targeting up to 1 million deportations per year, with a daily detention quota of 3,000 migrants. Temporary facilities like Fort Bliss are viewed as essential to meeting that target.

Fort Bliss has previously been used to house unaccompanied migrant children and Afghan refugees. Now, it’s being retooled to accommodate adult detainees as part of a broader militarization of immigration enforcement.

Earlier this month, ICE opened a facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades, currently housing 3,000 detainees. Officials hope to expand that location to accommodate 5,000 migrants.

The moves have drawn criticism from immigrant rights groups and civil liberties advocates, who say the expanded detention network raises human rights concerns. But administration officials argue the system is necessary for restoring control at the southern border.

“We’re simply enforcing the law,” Homan said. “These facilities are a tool to help us do that more effectively.”

As operations at Fort Bliss ramp up, immigration enforcement efforts are expected to intensify in the coming months.