The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded a $232 million contract to establish a 5,000-bed detention facility at Fort Bliss Army Base in El Paso, Texas, to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation operations. The facility, set to be the largest of its kind in the country, directly aligns with President Donald Trump’s Jan. 29 executive order declaring an invasion at the southern border.
The Pentagon announced that Virginia-based Acquisition Logistics LLC would operate the facility, with funding obligated from the Army’s 2025 operations budget. Completion is projected by Sept. 30, 2027, with the total contract estimated to exceed $1.26 billion.
This move marks a decisive shift away from the Biden administration’s use of “soft-sided facilities” (SSFs), temporary tent structures used to house and process illegal migrants. Under Trump, those SSFs in key border states—including Texas, Arizona, and California—have been shuttered. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks stated that ending SSF reliance is saving taxpayers over $45 million per month.
The Fort Bliss facility is part of a broader strategy under President Trump to militarize border security. Following the executive order, Trump tasked the Department of Defense and U.S. Northern Command with coordinating federal border operations. Troops were surged to the border, and by March, over 10,000 personnel were deployed. In addition, the Coast Guard began assisting in deportations, including transporting violent criminals to Guantanamo Bay.
By April, border wall construction resumed across multiple sectors. In June, the Pentagon deployed another 700 troops to bolster deportation operations and launched a program to transition separating service members into federal border security roles.
National Defense Areas (NDAs) have also been expanded, including a 63-mile stretch between El Paso and Fort Hancock, Texas, operating under Fort Bliss. The base had previously housed ICE operations in 2018. Under the Biden administration, Fort Bliss was used to house approximately 10,000 unvetted Afghan nationals in 2021, a policy that led to serious security concerns and over $535 million in damages across U.S. military bases.
An FBI audit revealed that 55 Afghan nationals released into the U.S. were on the terror watchlist, including one individual who plotted an ISIS attack on American soil scheduled for election day 2024.
The Fort Bliss expansion reflects Trump’s aggressive and coordinated approach to restoring border integrity. With illegal crossings at historic lows in June, the administration appears determined to sustain its momentum.
