Trump administration plans to build largest US federal migrant detention center on military base [View all]

Source: Reuters

August 7, 2025 4:04 PM EDT Updated 11 hours ago


Aug 7 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration is aiming to construct the largest federal migrant detention facility in the United States on a military base in Texas, the Pentagon said on Thursday, the latest move to use military resources to make good on his immigration agenda.

Trump has stepped up arrests of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, cracked down on unlawful border crossings, and stripped legal status from hundreds of thousands of migrants. Since taking office this year, Trump has sent migrants to Guantanamo Bay naval base, though in far fewer numbers than planned.

The Pentagon said the initial plan was to hold 1,000 migrants at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, by mid to late August and then finish construction of a facility with 5,000 beds in "the weeks and months ahead."

"Upon completion, this will be the largest federal detention center in history for this critical mission - the deportation of illegal aliens," Kingsley Wilson, a Pentagon spokesperson, told reporters. While the facility is being built on a military base, the Department of Homeland Security is expected to be responsible for the migrants.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-administration-plans-build-largest-us-federal-migrant-detention-center-2025-08-07/