The Trump administration is preparing to construct what would become the largest federal migrant detention facility in U.S. history, signaling an aggressive expansion of its hardline immigration agenda. The proposed center is to be located on Fort Bliss, a military base in El Paso, Texas, according to a statement issued Thursday by the Pentagon.
Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson told reporters that the facility, once completed, will serve as the main federal hub for detaining undocumented immigrants prior to deportation, marking a major shift in how immigration enforcement intersects with military infrastructure.
“Once operational, this will be the largest federal detention center ever built for this mission, the removal of illegal foreign nationals,” Wilson said.
The initial plan involves holding 1,000 migrants at Fort Bliss by mid to late August, with construction already underway for a 5,000-bed facility expected to be completed “within weeks or months,” officials said.
This development is the latest in a series of moves by President Trump to integrate the military into domestic immigration enforcement. Since returning to office earlier this year, Trump has dramatically escalated the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants, while stripping legal protections from hundreds of thousands of migrants previously shielded under humanitarian or temporary programs.
Earlier in the year, the administration sent small numbers of detainees to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, though far fewer than initially projected. Still, the use of military sites like Guantanamo and now Fort Bliss represents an unprecedented militarization of immigration policy.
Indiana Also Tapped for Expansion
In addition to the massive Texas facility, the Trump administration is also planning a 1,000-bed detention center in Indiana, as part of a broader effort to expand detention capacity nationwide. These facilities are expected to fall under the operational control of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) once built.
The Pentagon emphasized that this is not the first time military bases have been used for immigration-related purposes. Under President Joe Biden, for example, the Department of Defense approved requests to house unaccompanied migrant children on military installations in Texas during a 2021 surge.
The announcement is already drawing fire from immigrant rights groups and legal advocacy organizations, who warn that the expansion of federal detention risks further abuses of due process and human rights.
Earlier this week, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to halt arbitrary immigration arrests following a lawsuit alleging widespread violations of constitutional protections. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld Trump’s authority to terminate residency protections for over half a million migrants, paving the way for an even broader crackdown.
Civil liberties organizations have vowed to challenge the new detention plan in court, citing concerns over indefinite detention, lack of access to legal representation, and the psychological toll of large-scale internment.
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