WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union warned in a press release that the Trump administration will convert Fort Bliss — a military base historically tied to the mistreatment of migrant children — into one of the nation’s largest immigration detention sites, with capacity for up to 5,000 people.
Fort Bliss spans El Paso, Texas, and parts of Doña Ana and Otero counties in New Mexico. The ACLU described the plan as “the latest escalation in President Trump’s dystopian agenda to detain and deport millions of immigrants from communities nationwide.”
The organization said the detention camp will be structured as a tent facility, leaving detainees vulnerable to “extreme heat and other harsh conditions.”
Media reports have indicated that the Trump administration is prepared to spend about $1.26 billion to build the detention camp. The ACLU said Congress has also passed legislation providing $170 billion to accelerate deportations and expand detention.
“This expansion marks another shameful chapter in Fort Bliss’ history,” the ACLU said, noting the base’s association with confining German, Italian and Japanese immigrants during World War II. The facility was later used from 2016 and again between 2021 and 2023 to hold unaccompanied children, many of whom suffered extreme abuse.
The ACLU argued the conversion of Fort Bliss exemplifies Trump’s misuse of military resources to facilitate the deportation of long-standing residents as well as newly arrived immigrants.
In response, Sarah Mehta, deputy director of government affairs for the ACLU, condemned the move. “President Trump’s use of Fort Bliss for the nation’s largest immigrant detention site is cruel and a reminder of a shameful detention legacy,” Mehta said. “Thousands of people, including our neighbors and loved ones, will be torn from their communities while this administration enlists the military to rubberstamp its abusive agenda.”
Mehta concluded, “Members of Congress must stop the use of the military — including its bases — for the Trump administration’s reckless and wasteful deportation drive.”
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