A federal watchdog agency said Camp East Montana, the country's largest immigration detention facility, wasted up to $11. 5 million of taxpayer money during its first two weeks of operation in August 2025.

During that time, the camp in El Paso was still empty - the first detainees didn't arrive until Aug. 16. Sign up A report published Tuesday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office has shed new light on the facility's operations, already under heavy public scrutiny after a congressionally mandated inspection found dozens of violations in April, followed by a lawsuit by a group of legal and civil rights organizations a month later.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement rushed the opening of the detention camp at the Fort Bliss Army base, the GAO report found, resulting in "millions of dollars in waste." The agency failed to "treat detained noncitizens humanely," meet legal and policy-based obligations to maintain a safe and secure environment, and fix "serious gaps in medical services and inadequate weapons control procedures," the report said.