Texas Opens Migrant Center on Military Base, the Largest in the U.S.

• Texas: Opens migrant center
• Planned capacity up to 5,000 detainees
• Organizations denounce cruel conditions

Amid a heated national debate on immigration, a detention center has opened in Texas that is already shaping up to be the largest in the United States.

It is the Camp East Montana facility, set up inside the Fort Bliss military base, where thousands of migrants with deportation orders will be held in tents while awaiting removal from the country.

Texas opens massive migrant center

The official opening of Camp East Montana

The complex began operations this Sunday with around 1,000 beds, according to officials.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) aims to expand it to 5,000 spaces, which would make it one of the largest migrant detention centers in the entire country.

According to Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who visited the facility last week, the objective is clear:

• to house immigrants who already have final deportation orders.

“These are people with firm deportation orders. They have no legal recourse. They have no legal right to be here,” declared Cornyn, as quoted by The Hill.

The lawmaker added that the center must be open to oversight by Congress and the media, recalling past instances when other facilities denied entry to representatives who denounced negligence.

Criticism and denunciations

Camp East Montana has drawn strong reactions from civil rights organizations.

It has been compared to “Alligator Alcatraz,” the detention camp in the Florida Everglades, with critics arguing that keeping people in tents exposes them to extreme heat and harsh conditions.

Savannah Kumar, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas, was blunt: “The detention center at Fort Bliss revives a shameful legacy.”

Related: Disease Outbreak at “Alligator Alcatraz” Sparks Legal Action

She recalled that the facility was previously used to detain German and Italian immigrants, as well as people of Japanese descent during World War II, in addition to unaccompanied minors between 2016 and 2023, some of whom suffered abuse.

Regarding the new detentions, the attorney warned:

“It is almost certain that the people detained there will see their basic rights violated while they remain in tents under the brutal West Texas sun, with extreme heat that endangers their lives. This is not only dangerous, but also cruel.”

More bases under scrutiny

The Pentagon has also authorized the use of Camp Atterbury in Indiana and the McGuire Dix–Lakehurst base in New Jersey.

The controversial transfer of migrants to the Guantánamo naval base in Cuba has also been maintained, a measure that has drawn fresh criticism both inside and outside the country.

The center at Fort Bliss thus becomes the most visible face of US immigration policy — a scenario mixing pressure to ramp up deportations with growing criticism from civil organizations and the international community.

The debate over security and human rights promises to intensify as the facility’s capacity increases.

Do you think these measures strengthen the country’s security, or worsen the humanitarian crisis at the border?

Source: EFE