Overview

• The Department of Defense has contracted Acquisition Logistics to build a 5,000-bed tent facility at Fort Bliss with operations slated to begin by August and full completion by late 2027.
• Once built, the camp will be the largest immigration detention center in the country and use Fort Bliss’s airport to process deportation flights near the U.S.-Mexico border.
• ICE’s detainee population reached a record 57,861 in June, exceeding its 41,500-bed congressional limit and prompting the emergency expansion funded by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
• ‘Hardened soft-sided’ tent sites like Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz have faced legal challenges over medical neglect, extreme heat and unsanitary conditions.
• Experts and advocacy groups caution that Acquisition Logistics’s untested experience in detention operations heightens risks to detainee welfare and federal oversight.