The government paid full price for a $1.3 billion detention center that was holding no one.
That is not a billing error. It is what a system looks like when the money stops depending on the need.
Camp East Montana, on Army-administered land at Fort Bliss, Texas. It opened in August 2025 without the pre-occupancy inspection its contract required. The Government Accountability Office audited it and published on June 9, 2026.
Someone is having a very good year
Detention is not a cost center in this build-out. It is a growth market, and the growth is documented in the operators’ own filings.
These are not projections or estimates by this project. They are reported results, public contract records, and one appointment announcement.
A company does not need to have done anything wrong for this to matter. When the buyer, the regulator, and the beneficiary are this closely bound, the ordinary checks have to work harder — and this is the moment they were removed.
They asked for twice what Congress paid for
The FY2026 ICE Congressional Budget Justification states the strategy in its own words: a 100,000-bed target and a 1,000,000-removal-per-year plan. The funded line sustains roughly half that many beds.
The distance between the two is not left as a gap. It is being closed with about $38 billion in warehouse conversions — the plan GAO warned could repeat Camp East Montana’s failures at scale.
The build-out is already most of the way there
Migration Policy Institute, October 2025; share measured in early 2025.
David J. Bier, Cato Institute analysis of nonpublic ICE data, November 24, 2025.
Detention here is civil, not criminal. It is ordered by administrative decision, not by a judge and a jury — which is why the ordinary protections of a criminal case do not attach, and why the inspection regime was the only routine check that did.
And the inspector was sent home
The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman was the office that took a detainee’s complaint and followed it inside the facility. In its fiscal 2022–24 inspections it found 31 of the 33 facilities it inspected did not comply with the standard tied to the complaint that brought it there.
It was gutted by reduction-in-force on March 21, 2025, and shuttered on May 5, 2026. DHS said the required functions would continue. GAO recorded that DHS did not explain how.
The recommendation remains open, and the Ombudsman remains a position established by law.
Detention grew 71%. The office that inspected it went to five people.
39 people died in ICE custody between January 20, 2025 and January 19, 2026 — the highest annual toll since the agency was created in 2003, per Human Rights Watch, Dying in Detention (June 2026). One of them was Geraldo Lunas Campos, who died at Camp East Montana on January 3, 2026. ICE first reported medical distress, then described use of force during a response to self-harm. The El Paso County medical examiner ruled the manner of death a homicide.
A homicide manner-of-death ruling is not a criminal finding, and the accounts conflict. This page does not resolve that conflict. It records that the office which would have inspected the facility had been reduced to five people fifteen months earlier.
What the other side says
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“Fort Bliss is federal land. A state ban could never have reached Camp East Montana.”
Correct — and that is the exception, not the rule. Camp East Montana is privately operated on federal land, which is exactly why it sits beyond a state resource bar. It is also why 86% is the number that matters: the overwhelming majority of people in detention are held in privately run facilities that depend on state-controlled permits, land, leases, utilities, and county jail beds. The federal route exists because it is the workaround. A workaround is evidence of an obstacle, not of its absence.
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“States already tried this. The courts struck the bans down.”
The flat bans, yes. In GEO Group v. Newsom (9th Cir. 2022, en banc) California’s AB 32 was held unenforceable against federally contracted detention, and in CoreCivic v. Governor of New Jersey (3d Cir., July 22, 2025) New Jersey’s AB 5207 fell as applied to CoreCivic. What survived is narrower and still real: the state’s own money, its own permits and leases, its inspection access, and its conditions regimes. Washington’s HB 1470 survived preemption in GEO Group v. Inslee (9th Cir. 2025; rehearing denied February 11, 2026), and its section 2 was held not to regulate the federal government directly — but whether sections 2 and 3 unfairly single out a federal contractor was sent back undecided, and the challenge to section 5 was ordered dismissed. And in GEO Group v. Menocal (Supreme Court, February 25, 2026) the Court held a contractor’s Yearsley protection is a defense to liability, not an immunity from suit — so refusing it cannot be appealed before final judgment, and the Aurora forced-labor case proceeds.
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“The federal government is already fixing this itself.”
Partly true, and worth saying plainly: new warehouse purchases were paused in June 2026 and Noem-era contracts are under review. But that came from a change in leadership and from local opposition — not from any durable rule. A pause that one appointment created, the next appointment can end. The $240 billion appropriated for immigration enforcement through 2029 does not expire with a change of mind.
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“Beds are needed. Removals require custody.”
For people already in proceedings, an interior removal does end in custody, and detention space is a real input. Many border removals and voluntary departures never use a bed, and other constraints bind. But the argument for capacity is an argument for needed capacity — and the audited record includes a $1.3 billion facility billed at full operating cost while it held no one at all.
Seven states have written anything at all
Two are at full strength: Maryland and Oregon, both barring the private operator directly. Five more have partial limits. The remaining forty-five jurisdictions have written nothing that reaches this.
Find my state all 52 jurisdictions, with the statute where one exists
No jurisdiction matches that.
- Alaskanot written
- Alabamanot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Arkansasnot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Arizonanot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Californianot writtenAB 32 (2019) — PERMANENTLY ENJOINED as applied to ICE/USMS contractors (GEO Group v. Newsom, 9th Cir. en banc Sept 26 2022; final judgment May 23 2023)
- Coloradonot written
- Connecticutnot written
- District of Columbianot written
- Delawarewritten in part11 Del. C. §§ 6503(3),(7), 6593(a); 85 Del. Laws ch. 258 (HS 2 for HB 151, 2026), approved 2026-05-21
- Floridanot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Georgianot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Hawaiinot written
- Iowanot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Idahonot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Illinoiswritten in part730 ILCS 141/15 (Private Detention Facility Moratorium Act, 2019) — in force, no sunset
- Indiananot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Kansasnot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Kentuckynot written
- Louisiananot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Massachusettsnot written
- Marylandwritten in fullMd. Code Ann., Corr. Servs. §1-103(A)(2), (B), (C), (E)-(G), as enacted by Ch. 173 (2026, HB 1017) Section 1 — approved by the Governor 2026-04-28 (emergency, effective on signature)
- Mainenot written
- Michigannot writtenMCL 791.220g, 791.220i (Corrections Code, Act 232 of 1953)
- Minnesotanot written
- Missourinot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Mississippinot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Montananot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- North Carolinanot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- North Dakotanot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Nebraskanot written
- New Hampshirenot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- New Jerseynot writtenAB 5207 — STRUCK DOWN as applied (CoreCivic v. Gov. of NJ, 3d Cir. No. 23-2598, July 22, 2025) — cert petition filed Jan 9 2026, SCOTUS watch
- New Mexicowritten in partHB 9 Sec. 3 (2026), Chapter 5 (2026), Signed by Governor — public-land prohibition
- Nevadanot written
- New Yorkwritten in partCh. 55, Laws of 2026, Part LL Subpart A - bars local-government spending/contracting on private immigration detention (partial).
- Ohionot written
- Oklahomanot written
- Oregonwritten in fullORS 181A.829(3) — private immigration detention facility prohibition (statewide)
- Pennsylvanianot written
- Rhode Islandnot written
- South Carolinanot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- South Dakotanot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Tennesseenot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Texasnot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Utahnot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Virginianot written
- Vermontnot written
- Washingtonwritten in partRCW 70.395.030 ("Prohibition on private incarceration"), added by 2021 c 30 §3 (HB 1090, eff. 2021-04-14)
- Wisconsinnot written
- West Virginianot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Wyomingnot writtenstate law mandates cooperation (state law mandates cooperation)
- Puerto Riconot written
Methodology v3.5 · scored Aug 20 2026
Court orders arrive one case at a time, after a policy has already begun. A state law sets the default before the fact. It can be challenged too — but it starts from the other side of the line.
The ask
Bar your state’s money, permits, land, and leases from for-profit civil detention.
Not a flat ban — that form has already lost in court. The durable slice is the state’s own resources and its own inspection access: what it funds, what it permits, what it leases, and what it is allowed to walk in and see.
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If your state is one of the forty-five with nothing on the books
Ask for the resource bar itself: no state or local money, permits, land, leases, or jail beds for a for-profit civil detention facility — and a written right of inspection that does not depend on the operator’s consent.
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If it is one of the five that went partway
Ask them to close the gap yours left open. The statute already on your books is named beside your state in the list above — start there, because amending a law you already have is a shorter road than passing a new one.
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If it is one of the two at full strength (Maryland and Oregon)
Ask them to defend it: fund the inspection access the law already grants, and keep funding it while it is being litigated. A law that survives in court still needs someone funded to walk through the door.
The receipts
Open the dated source record
- ICE’s initial statement, its detainee-death report, and the El Paso County medical examiner — medical distress was reported first; ICE later described use of force during a response to self-harm; the medical examiner ruled the manner of death a homicide.
- GAO-26-108886 and the federal facility record — Camp East Montana is on Army-administered Fort Bliss; it is ICE’s largest single facility, and GAO recorded an average population there ranging from roughly 1,600 to more than 2,500 people.
- Migration Policy Institute, October 2025 — reported that 86% of people in ICE detention were held in privately run facilities, a share measured in early 2025.
- FY2026 ICE Congressional Budget Justification — a roughly 50,000-bed funded line supporting a 100,000-bed strategy; roughly one-month average stay; and a 1,000,000-removal strategy.
- GAO-26-108886, Immigration Detention: Waste and Performance Issues at Camp East Montana Provide Valuable Lessons for Future Facilities, June 9, 2026 — audited Camp East Montana and warned that its failures risk recurring in ICE’s roughly $38 billion warehouse-conversion plan; average daily population rose from 39,314 on January 20, 2025, to 67,204 on April 1, 2026; authorized facilities rose from 134 to 239; the camp opened without its required inspection and was billed at full operating cost with zero detainees.
- OpenSecrets analysis of USASpending contracting records, March 2026 — ICE contract dollars up about 69% year over year; about $2.1 billion to GEO Group and about $653.5 million to CoreCivic in the first five months of FY2026, October 2025 through February 2026.
- Public Law 119-21, signed July 4, 2025 — about $170.7 billion, including a $45 billion detention-construction line.
- Public Law 119-98, signed June 10, 2026 — $69.5 billion, including about $38.5 billion for ICE, available through September 30, 2029. The second law has no separate detention figure.
- TRAC, data current April 4, 2026 — point-in-time count of 60,311 people in detention. GAO’s April 1 figure is an average daily population.
- GAO-25-107580, May 21, 2025 — the Highlights report 31 of 33 facilities in the complaint-triggered sample failed the standard linked to the complaint or concern. The body separately reports 174 deficiencies across 29 noncompliant facilities; 48% of those deficiencies concerned medical care.
- GAO-25-107580 and May 2026 closure reporting — Ombudsman staff fell from 116 to five by December 2025; complaint intake fell from 12,664 in fiscal 2023 to 280 from March 21 through December 21, 2025; DHS said required functions would continue, and GAO recorded that DHS “did not explain how.” GAO’s recommendation remained Open.
- April 30, 2026 appropriations law and 6 U.S.C. §205 — the enacted law does not mention the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman or require its closure; the Ombudsman remains a position created by law.
- ICE’s own detainee-death reporting and Human Rights Watch, Dying in Detention (June 25, 2026) — 24 deaths in fiscal 2025 on ICE’s own published list; 31 in calendar 2025 (trackers range 31 to 33 by inclusion rule); 39 from January 20, 2025, through January 19, 2026; and 52 through June 4, 2026. Windows and methods differ, which is why each figure here carries its dates. The previous annual high was 32, in calendar 2004 — fiscal 2004 was 29 — against an average daily population of roughly 21,000 to 23,000, compared with roughly 40,000 to 67,000 in the recent windows.
- Public Law 116-93, Division D, §§217–218; GAO-24-106233; and the public data archive — publication duty, the February 7–April 4, 2026 blackout, the dashboard frozen as of December 31, 2024, and DHS’s formal non-concurrence with GAO’s reporting recommendation.
- Section 527 of Public Law 118-47 — protects inspection access for Members of Congress.
- Neguse v. ICE, D.D.C. No. 1:25-cv-02463-JMC; D.C. Cir. No. 26-5072 — three district-court blocks of the congressional-oversight visit policies under appropriations rider section 527. On May 8, 2026 the D.C. Circuit denied a stay pending appeal and dismissed the administrative-stay request as moot. The interlocutory appeal remains pending as of August 23, 2026.
- GEO Group v. Newsom, 50 F.4th 745 (9th Cir. 2022) (en banc), and CoreCivic, Inc. v. Governor of New Jersey, No. 23-2598 (3d Cir., July 22, 2025) — the court limits on flat state bans applied to federal detention contractors. GEO Group v. Inslee, No. 24-2815, 151 F.4th 1107 (9th Cir. 2025) — Washington HB 1470: preliminary injunction vacated, the discrimination question remanded undecided, rehearing en banc denied February 11, 2026. A separate case of the same name, GEO Group v. Inslee, 702 F. Supp. 3d 1043 (W.D. Wash. 2023), concerned the earlier HB 1090 ban, which Washington stipulated it would not enforce; there is no appellate ruling on that one.
- GEO Group v. Menocal, No. 24-758, 607 U.S. 438 (February 25, 2026), Kagan, J. — Yearsley protection is a defense to liability, not an immunity from suit, so an order refusing it is not immediately appealable; the Aurora forced-labor suit proceeds. The underlying claim remains undecided.
- Goldey v. Fields, No. 24-809, 606 U.S. 942 (June 30, 2025) (per curiam), and the civil-rights office record — the excessive-force damages claim was summarily reversed as a new context for an implied remedy; the complaint office later stood at about nine staff with more than 500 open complaints.
The shifting accounts and the medical examiner’s ruling are reported as a conflict. This page does not decide between them. It omits the unverified cause-of-death and restraint details.
Open the current state-law snapshot
Dated scorecard snapshot — Aug 20, 2026.