ICE said Friday that it is terminating the contractor that had been running its largest detention facility, Camp East Montana, and replacing it with Amentum Services, Inc., a firm ICE said is more experienced. The facility is located at a U.S. Army base in El Paso, Texas, where the camp houses detainees in long tent encampments, according to ICE and reporting described in the announcement.
The contractor switch comes as the facility has faced scrutiny over living conditions detainees have described as inhumane since the camp opened last year, with evidence accumulating around claims that detainees were held in overcrowded conditions and did not receive adequate medical care. Reporting cited by the agency said detainees struggled to obtain medication and health care, lost significant amounts of weight due to lack of food, and lived in fear of security guards known to use force.
The scrutiny intensified after a measles outbreak was reported at Camp East Montana and after several Democratic members of Congress called for the facility to be closed. Reporting also described at least 130 calls to 911 made during the camp’s first five months, including reports involving two deaths, suicide attempts, fights and medical emergencies.
Acquisition Logistics, LLC—the prime contractor that ICE is replacing—had been awarded a deal last year worth up to $1.3 billion to build and manage the camp at Fort Bliss, according to the account of the contract. The same reporting said Acquisition Logistics had no prior experience running an ICE detention facility, had never won a federal contract worth more than $16 million, and lacked a functioning website.
ICE selected Amentum as the new prime contractor, according to a federal notice published Wednesday and an agency spokesperson who did not provide their name. The Washington Post also reported the switch, and ICE did not provide details Friday on what prompted the termination of Acquisition Logistics’ contract, which records described in the report as set to run until Sept. 30, 2027.
ICE said it recently completed an inspection of conditions at Camp East Montana but that it has not released the inspection findings publicly. The agency also said Acquisition Logistics and its president and chief executive, Ken Wagner, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
ICE said Amentum, which ICE described as known for work with military and intelligence agencies, was best suited to take over and improve operations. The agency spokesperson said, “Amentum’s size, maturity and pedigree make them the right partner at the right time,” adding that ICE will work closely with the company on “higher standards of medical care, more thorough case processing and intake procedures” and on delivery of performance requirements “according to well-defined accountability measures.”
Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat whose district includes the camp, said she was relieved Friday that Acquisition Logistics had been replaced. She reiterated her calls for the facility to be shut down and for the contractors involved to be investigated for “the fraud they’ve perpetrated on the American taxpayer.”
Escobar said, “Whether the new contractor is an improvement remains to be seen, and I remain deeply concerned about the chronic substandard conditions that exist at Camp East Montana,” noting she had toured the facility seven times. She also urged ICE not to open warehouses planned across the country to hold larger numbers of detainees at single sites, including a planned location near El Paso, which she said would “serve only as tools for the administration’s inhumanity.”
A contracting database notice cited in the report said ICE was negotiating a no-bid contract with Amentum to run Camp East Montana, including providing secure housing, medical care and transportation. The notice said the contract would last 180 days, and it said it was unclear what would happen after that period because of the “proprietary nature” of the camp’s infrastructure, which it described as requiring uninterrupted service by Amentum.