Feds plan to build nation’s biggest migrant detention center at Fort Bliss

The federal government plans to spend $1.26 billion to build the country's largest immigration detention center at Fort Bliss, an army base in El Paso, according to a recently-announced contract.

The U.S. Department of Defense on Monday announced that Virginia-based company Acquisition Logistics LLC was given nearly $232 million up front to build and run the 5,000-bed tent camp. The federal agency said the facility is expected to open by September 2027.

The contract is one of the biggest for Acquisition Logistics, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the contract. But the company does not appear to have experience running detention centers.

Using tents in the sprawling West Texas to detain migrants has been a long-time concern for immigrant rights activists because of scorching desert heat.