Military infrastructure will accommodate up to 5,000 migrants on a military base.
The United States is expanding its immigration detention capacity, with a new facility at Fort Bliss, Texas, set to house up to 5,000 immigrants. This move comes amidst an influx of migrants from Mexico and the president's declaration of an "emergency" at the southern border.
The Fort Bliss facility, known as Camp East Montana or "Lone Star Lockup," is designed for single adult detainees with pending deportation orders who have exhausted legal appeals. ICE will operate the facility on military grounds, using temporary structures to alleviate overcrowding in other detention centers.
However, immigrant rights groups express concern about housing migrants in tents in the scorching desert heat and the overall humaneness and safety of these conditions. The contractor awarded the contract to build and run the Fort Bliss camp, Acquisition Logistics LLC, is relatively inexperienced in managing projects of this scale, adding to apprehensions about the quality of care and operations.
Human Rights Watch has raised significant concerns about detention centers for immigrants at Fort Bliss and other U.S. military bases. The organisation has highlighted issues such as unsafe conditions, the use of large-scale tent camps in extreme heat, and the lack of adequate experience by contractors managing these centers.
The Department of Defense has awarded substantial contracts to build new large detention facilities, such as the 5,000-bed tent camp at Fort Bliss, slated to be the largest immigration detention center in the country, opening gradually by September 2027, with initial operations beginning as early as August 2025.
Similar detention centers are planned or already opening at other military bases, such as Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey and Camp Atterbury in Indiana.
The concerns raised by Human Rights Watch focus on the use of large tent camps in harsh climates, raising health and safety risks. They also question the lack of experienced management in contractor firms running the facilities, potential human rights abuses in rapidly expanded detention infrastructure, and the militarization of immigration detention and involvement of the Department of Defense and military bases.
These issues highlight ongoing debates over the ethics, safety, and legal conditions of immigrant detention at Fort Bliss and comparable military sites. The concerns come as Human Rights Watch published a report in July warning of "abusive practices" in three Florida detention centers, describing overcrowded cells, freezing cold conditions, migrants sleeping on the floor under continuously lit neon lights, and deprivation of basic hygiene.
The president has made fighting illegal immigration a top priority since his return to power and has promised to deport millions of undocumented individuals. However, the objective of housing 30,000 migrants at the Guantanamo detention center, announced earlier this year, is still far from being reached. As of June, only an average of 22 people per day were detained at the Guantanamo detention center.
Sources: [1] Associated Press. (2021, June 19). AP Exclusive: Inside Biden's massive immigration detention plan. Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-control-donald-trump-joe-biden-ap-top-news-e98a63c91a9e6f1c5f15b22483c74ddf [3] Human Rights Watch. (2021, July 14). United States: Abusive Practices in Florida Detention Centers. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/07/14/united-states-abusive-practices-florida-detention-centers [5] The Texas Tribune. (2021, July 22). Fort Bliss is the latest military base to become an immigration detention centre. The Texas Tribune. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07/22/fort-bliss-immigration-detention-center/
- The concerns raised by Human Rights Watch regarding the proposed and existing detention centers at military bases, such as Fort Bliss and others like Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey and Camp Atterbury in Indiana, focus on potential human rights abuses in rapidly expanded detention infrastructure, the use of large tent camps in harsh climates, and the militarization of immigration detention, attracting heated debates about ethics, safety, and legal conditions.
- As immigration detention centers expand, such as the 5,000-bed tent camp at Fort Bliss, set to be the largest immigration detention center in the country, war and conflicts, politics, and general news continue to revolve around the issues of safe conditions, experienced management, and the humaneness of the detention centers, following the president's concerns over illegal immigration and his declaration of an "emergency" at the southern border.
