ICE Contractor Swap Draws Scrutiny After Deaths, Safety Lapses

A Department of Homeland Security decision to replace a troubled contractor running a massive immigration detention facility in Texas is drawing scrutiny in an analysis that details deaths, safety violations, and other lapses.

Public Citizen’s report, first reported by Bloomberg Law, details problems at the 5,000-bed Camp East Montana facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso under previous contractor Acquisition Logistics LLC and its replacement Amentum Services Inc. The report raises questions about DHS oversight as President Donald Trump’s administration expands detention capacity across the country.

“This new contractor will allow Camp East Montana to continue abiding by the highest detention standards with the ability to provide more medical care on-site,” a DHS spokesperson said a in a statement to Bloomberg Law. “This contract also allows more on-site staff and a pre quality assurance surveillance plan. ICE will have even more oversight of the contractors at this facility.”

Amentum and Acquisition Logistics didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Fort Bliss was used during World War II to detain Japanese Americans as well as German and Italian prisoners of war, a legacy that has prompted criticism over the site’s reuse as a modern immigration detention center, according to the report.

First Contractor

The Army initially awarded the detention center contract in 2025 to Acquisition Logistics, a Virginia-based company with limited detention experience, in a deal valued at $1.3 billion to $2.7 billion, the report said.

Problems began almost immediately when a subcontractor employee died in an industrial accident two days after work started, and multiple subcontractors were later cited for safety violations, according to the report. An internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement review also found 60 violations of detention standards in the first 50 days, the report said.

Between December 2025 and January 2026, three detainees died at the facility, including one death ruled a homicide following a confrontation with guards, according to the report. Acquisition Logistics has been a respondent in seven lawsuits brought by detainees over conditions at the facility between September 2025 and February 2026, the report said.

DHS terminated the company’s contract in March, the report stated.

New Contractor

DHS awarded a sole-source contract to Amentum in March to take over operations, saying it was necessary to ensure uninterrupted detention operations, according to the report.

But Amentum and its affiliated companies have accumulated more than 100 regulatory violations and tens of millions of dollars in penalties, including workplace safety issues, the report said.

A DHS spokesperson credited the company’s size and capabilities in a statement.

“Amentum’s size, maturity and pedigree make them the right partner at the right time and we will work closely with them in their implementation of higher standards of medical care, more thorough case processing and intake procedures, and delivery of performance requirements according to well-defined accountability measures” the spokesperson said.

Republicans last year approved $45 billion for DHS to expand immigrant detention capacity across the country.