Welcome to the ‘Lone Star Lockup’: Trump’s Texas Mega-Jail for Immigrants

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As the federal government continues large-scale deportations of undocumented migrants, the Trump administration has opened what it calls the largest federal immigration detention center in the country’s history.

The facility, dubbed “Lone Star Lockup,” opened Sunday in Fort Bliss, Texas, under a $1.2 billion Defense Department contract.

The detention center holds 1,000 beds with a plan to expand to 5,000 beds by 2027. Inside are legal access areas, medical treatment areas and recreational space — amenities that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say make it like a “traditional” facility.

Supporters of the detention center, like Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales, say it will help ease overcrowding at other facilities and serve as a processing hub, sending migrants with final removal orders directly onto ICE air flights back to their home countries.

“Fort Bliss is an amazing military facility,” Gonzales said. “Everything thrown their way, they’ve handled. We should be supporting this, not attacking it.”
The project does have its critics, including U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas).

“That money will enrich private contractors,” Escobar said. “Imagine what one billion could do for health care or law enforcement here in El Paso.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas called the opening of the facility a “shameful” milestone in Trump’s “dystopian agenda.”

“People detained there will almost certainly have their basic rights violated while caged in tents under the brutal West Texas sun, with extreme heat that puts their lives at risk,” Savannah Kumar, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, noted of the opening. “This is not just dangerous — it’s cruel.”