ICE Plans $776 Million Camp East Montana Contract Extension

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to extend the no-bid operating contract for Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, through September 30, 2027, at a potential additional taxpayer cost of $776 million, according to a federal procurement notice published in late July and reported by The Associated Press.

The planned extension would keep Amentum Services operating one of ICE’s largest detention facilities despite a June 9, 2026, report from the Government Accountability Office that found avoidable spending, missing safeguards and failures in federal oversight. The extension is a planned procurement action, not a final award extending beyond September 30, 2027.

The potential $776 million would come on top of Amentum’s initial $452 million contract, AP reported. ICE said relocating people in immigration detention or changing contractors could create operational, legal and humanitarian risks, including a possible gap in services.

What changed at Camp East Montana

Camp East Montana opened in August 2025 at Fort Bliss as ICE’s largest immigration detention facility to date, with capacity for about 5,000 detained noncitizens. The Army awarded and initially administered a facility-services contract valued at up to $1.3 billion before transferring contract administration to ICE in October 2025.

GAO found that the accelerated schedule affected planning and acquisition decisions. The Army and ICE used a contracting vehicle that had not previously been used for detention services and selected an initial contractor without prior detention-services experience. ICE contracting officials also said the contract requirements did not fully align with the agency’s detention standards.

ICE later terminated the initial contract for convenience and selected a new contractor. The planned Amentum extension concerns that newer operating arrangement and was not evaluated by GAO’s June 9 audit, which focused primarily on the facility’s acquisition, opening and operations during the period covered by its review.

How GAO calculated the waste

GAO found that the government began paying for guards, medical services, transportation, meals and other operations on August 1, 2025, even though no detained noncitizens arrived until August 16. The audit estimated up to $11.5 million in costs for services paid before the facility housed anyone.

The contract also used fixed meal pricing tied to the facility’s maximum capacity rather than its actual population. GAO estimated about $423,000 in unnecessary meal costs between August 16 and September 30, 2025, followed by about $7.1 million more from October 1, 2025, through March 12, 2026.

At the end of February 2026, the facility held about 1,600 people but continued paying the full meal cost for 5,000. GAO said tiered pricing and reduced operating status for unused housing units could avoid similar costs at Camp East Montana and future facilities.

Safety and access problems

GAO found that Camp East Montana opened without several features required by ICE standards or the contract. Those gaps included missing perimeter cameras, inadequate outdoor recreation space and unavailable areas for attorney and family visitation.

The audit also cited reported problems involving medical services, disability accommodations, sanitation, classification and weapons control. In January 2026, a security guard lost a loaded firearm, which had not been recovered as of March, according to an ICE report reviewed by GAO.

GAO said ICE did not conduct the required pre-occupancy inspection before housing detained noncitizens at the facility. The watchdog also noted that its review identified selected gaps and did not determine whether all cited problems remained unresolved after its September 2025 site visit. GAO referred some concerns to the Defense Department’s inspector general for further investigation.

Separately, AP reported allegations from Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union concerning treatment and conditions at the facility. Those allegations are distinct from the findings in GAO’s audit.

Why the extension matters nationally

Camp East Montana is part of a broader detention expansion. GAO reported that ICE’s average daily population of detained noncitizens increased 71 percent, from 39,314 on January 20, 2025, to 67,204 on April 1, 2026, according to ICE data. The number of authorized ICE detention facilities rose from 134 to 239 over the same period, an increase of 78 percent.

AP separately reported that an ICE planning document describes a proposed $38.3 billion effort to increase capacity to 92,600 beds. Those figures describe a reported plan, not a completed buildout. ICE data may be revised and may be reported with a lag.

The national accountability question is whether ICE can add detention capacity while correcting the contracting and inspection weaknesses GAO identified at one of its largest facilities.

What remains unresolved

GAO issued four recommendations. Two were directed to ICE, one to the Army and one to the Department of Homeland Security. They cover tiered contract pricing, controls to ensure required pre-occupancy inspections, and lessons-learned reviews of the Camp East Montana acquisition by the Army and DHS.

All four recommendations remained open in GAO’s latest status update. In May 2026, DHS said it expected to shift the Camp East Montana contract to tiered pricing by the end of 2026. DHS also said ICE and the department’s Office of the Chief Readiness Support Officer would assess the acquisition and capture lessons for future actions. GAO said its monitoring would continue.

The next indicators will be whether those changes are implemented, whether the Amentum extension proceeds as described in the procurement notice, and whether future ICE facilities receive required inspections before detained noncitizens are housed there.

Sources

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