WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • The Pentagon spent $2.85 million assembling Guantanamo tents that never housed detained noncitizens.
  • ICE scaled back four of six detention expansion initiatives after proceeding without a comprehensive strategic plan.
  • The Army wasted up to $11.5 million on Camp East Montana services while the facility held no detained noncitizens.
  • ICE does not expect to complete its recommended strategic plan until Aug. 31, 2027.

The Pentagon spent $2.85 million assembling tents at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, but the shelters never housed detained noncitizens, according to the Government Accountability Office. The watchdog said the unused tent effort became one of the clearest examples of wasted resources in a broader immigration detention expansion.

The War Department reported obligating approximately $68 million for immigration detention from Oct. 1, 2024, through May 31, 2026. That spending supported an expansion effort that moved forward without a comprehensive strategic plan from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Guantanamo operation was one of six new detention expansion initiatives pursued by ICE. By July 2026, the agency had scaled back four of those six initiatives, resulting in wasted or potentially wasted resources, the GAO said in a Sept. 24 report.

A January 2025 presidential memorandum directed the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of War to expand detention capacity at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to 30,000 beds. The Department of War assembled tents designed to provide an initial capacity of 5,000 beds.

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Those tents never entered service because DHS determined that they failed to meet detention standards. The shelters were later taken down without housing any detained noncitizens, leaving the $2.85 million effort with nothing operational to show for the expense.

U.S. Military Expands Contingency Planning for Potential Cuba Action
Image Credit: DoW
U.S. Marines assigned to Joint Task Force Southern Guard conclude a training exercise with U.S. Soldiers assigned to Joint Task Force Bravo at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, May 20, 2025. The service members executed combined defensive posturing and airlift operations to strengthen integrated force projection capabilities. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Natalie Rubenak)

Building facilities that satisfied ICE standards was considered cost prohibitive, according to the report. Department of War officials told the GAO that “detaining the planned population was deemed infeasible,” and the Guantanamo operation was downsized in mid February 2025.

The Department of War’s involvement in the detention expansion was not limited to Guantanamo. After DHS requested access to military installations in February 2025, the two departments began planning additional detention facilities at Camp Atterbury in Indiana and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.

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By October 2025, Department of War officials said they no longer planned to construct detention facilities at other military installations. Department of War and ICE officials also told GAO investigators that the proposed Indiana and New Jersey facilities did not move forward.

ICE’s request for military assistance had not been rescinded, however. The agreement between the agencies remained active as of August 2026, even though the proposed detention projects at the two military installations had stalled.

At Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, the Army awarded and administered a $1.3 billion task order on ICE’s behalf for Camp East Montana. The soft sided detention facility opened in August 2025.

U.S. Military Expands Contingency Planning for Potential Cuba Action
Image Credit: DoW
An aerial view of the Leeward Airfield at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Guantanamo Bay is a logistical hub for U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army, and allied vessels and aviation platforms operating in the Caribbean region of the U.S. 4th Fleet. (Photo by: Chief Petty Officer Bill Mesta)
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The Army transferred responsibility for administering that contract to ICE at the beginning of fiscal 2026. Before the transfer, however, another GAO review identified millions of dollars in services purchased while the facility held no detained noncitizens.

That separate watchdog report found the Army wasted up to $11.5 million on services at Camp East Montana between Aug. 1 and Aug. 15, 2025. No detained noncitizens were housed at the facility during that period, according to the GAO.

The spending problems continued after detainees arrived. The Army later paid approximately $423,000 for meals it did not need because Camp East Montana was operating below its planned capacity.

Together, the unused Guantanamo tents, halted military installation projects and unnecessary Camp East Montana expenses reflected the consequences identified by the watchdog. ICE pursued the six expansion initiatives before producing a comprehensive plan covering its objectives and expected resource requirements.

The GAO recommended that ICE develop a comprehensive strategic plan for the detention expansion. The proposed plan would identify goals, activities and resource needs for the agency’s efforts.

DHS agreed with the recommendation, but said ICE does not expect to complete the plan until Aug. 31, 2027. The GAO responded that more timely completion “may be warranted.”