ICE extends no-bid contract for Camp East Montana in El Paso, rejecting calls for closure ⁠50%

By Ryan J. Foley⁠63% Associated Press⁠74%

7/28/2026, 9:00:00 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Availability Heuristic, Appeal to Emotion, and Confirmation Bias, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 36.6% saturation with 197 hits. Analysis detected 1,004 faulty-reasoning hits from 538 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 43.2% and a BS Rank of ⁠50% (14,346 of 28,207 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 50.90% of the article peer group.

U.S. 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to keep one of its largest and most expensive detention facilities open for at least another year despite calls to close it over reported human rights abuses, according to a notice published last week. 
ICE plans to extend the no-bid contract of the firm that runs Camp East Montana in East El Paso through Sept. 30, 2027, at a potential additional cost to taxpayers of $776 million, the notice says. 
This is on top of a $452 million initial contract that the firm, Amentum Services Inc., was awarded in March when it was hastily installed to take over the camp’s operation from a contractor removed for poor performance. 
For months, Democratic members of Congress and several advocacy organizations have called for Camp East Montana to be closed, citing reports that detainees have been routinely mistreated since its opening in August 2025. 
A report released earlier this month by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union alleged that staff routinely beat detainees, denied them medical care, made them live in filthy conditions and fed them inedible meals. 
Reports by federal agencies have also found unsafe detention conditions and that the Army and ICE have wasted millions of dollars paying for unnecessary services. 
At least three Camp East Montana detainees have died. 
The facility at Fort Bliss, an Army base near the U.S.-Mexico border, has housed an average of more than 2,000 male and female detainees a day since Oct. 1, though its population has declined significantly in recent months, according to ICE data. 
“Extending Amentum’s contract while ignoring well-documented abuses is reckless and demonstrates the Trump administration’s full-scale assault on human rights,” said Angélica César, a fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU who was a lead researcher for the report. 
“Instead of holding private contractors accountable, DHS is choosing to perpetuate a system of harm and abuse.” 
Chanel Mann, a spokesperson for Amentum, referred questions to ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, which didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment. 
ICE’s notice was a justification for extending Amentum Services’ contract for a year without a competitive bidding process. 
The agency argued that relocating detainees to other facilities would be “impracticable” due to a lack of available bed space elsewhere. 
Transitioning to a different contractor would require replacing Amentum’s “proprietary infrastructure” and finding new workers, which would lead to duplicative costs, it said. 
“Any lapse in contract coverage would directly threaten the life, safety, and well-being of detainees, severely disrupt law enforcement operations, and expose the government to substantial operational, legal, and humanitarian risks,” the notice says. 
ICE’s notice said the Army’s initial contract, awarded to Acquisition Logistics LLC, “did not accurately reflect ICE’s operational needs or the actual usage of the facility.” 
Acquisition Logistics had no prior experience operating detention facilities. 
In all, Virginia-based Amentum stands to be paid more than $1.2 billion if it operates the camp from March 2026 through September 2027, the notice says. 
The post ICE extends no-bid contract for Camp East Montana in El Paso, rejecting calls for closure appeared first on El Paso Matters . 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 12.1%Ryan J. Foley: 3.0%El Paso Matters: 1.3%Confirmation Bias12.1%This article: 11.5%Ryan J. Foley: 5.9%El Paso Matters: 0.5%Anchoring Bias11.5%This article: 15.8%Ryan J. Foley: 5.5%El Paso Matters: 1.4%Availability Heuristic15.8%This article: 9.5%Ryan J. Foley: 2.4%El Paso Matters: 0.4%Representativeness Heuristic9.5%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.2%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.5%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 6.1%Ryan J. Foley: 1.5%El Paso Matters: 3.1%Framing Effect6.1%This article: 6.3%Ryan J. Foley: 1.6%El Paso Matters: 0.5%Loss Aversion6.3%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 1.1%El Paso Matters: 0.4%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 11.3%Ryan J. Foley: 2.8%El Paso Matters: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect11.3%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 1.3%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 6.3%Ryan J. Foley: 1.6%El Paso Matters: 0.9%Pessimism Bias6.3%This article: 36.6%Ryan J. Foley: 16.7%El Paso Matters: 3.7%Negativity Bias36.6%This article: 3.2%Ryan J. Foley: 3.6%El Paso Matters: 0.8%Self-Serving Bias3.2%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.4%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.0%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.4%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.0%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 1.4%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.0%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.6%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.1%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.1%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.0%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 1.5%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.8%El Paso Matters: 0.7%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 6.3%Ryan J. Foley: 3.2%El Paso Matters: 0.5%Slippery Slope6.3%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 7.2%Ryan J. Foley: 3.9%El Paso Matters: 1.6%Hasty Generalization7.2%This article: 3.3%Ryan J. Foley: 0.8%El Paso Matters: 0.2%Red Herring3.3%This article: 6.1%Ryan J. Foley: 1.5%El Paso Matters: 0.2%Bandwagon6.1%This article: 13.6%Ryan J. Foley: 9.4%El Paso Matters: 3.0%Appeal to Emotion13.6%This article: 3.2%Ryan J. Foley: 0.8%El Paso Matters: 0.3%Begging the Question3.2%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 1.2%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.3%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.0%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.1%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 6.9%Ryan J. Foley: 1.7%El Paso Matters: 1.3%Anecdotal6.9%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.6%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.0%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 4.3%Ryan J. Foley: 1.1%El Paso Matters: 0.1%Special Pleading4.3%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.0%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.5%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 7.2%Ryan J. Foley: 3.6%El Paso Matters: 0.5%Quote-first Misdirection7.2%This article: 2.8%Ryan J. Foley: 0.7%El Paso Matters: 0.9%Biased Writer Voice2.8%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.9%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 6.9%Ryan J. Foley: 4.3%El Paso Matters: 0.5%Politically Left Leaning Bias6.9%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.1%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Ryan J. Foley: 0.0%El Paso Matters: 0.6%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

538 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers15%attributed speech456writer words
Selected voice

Angélica César

100%flagged-word coverage
56 attributed words68% of attributed speech90% writer coverage
0%35.0%70.0%Quote-first Misdirection+69.6 ptsWriter: 0.0%Angélica César: 69.6%69.6%Politically Left Leaning B-8.1 ptsWriter: 8.1%Angélica César: 0.0%0.0%Biased Writer Voice-3.3 ptsWriter: 3.3%Angélica César: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.