According to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, his agency is phasing out a contentious arrangement that relied on a broad Pentagon supply-and-services contract to secure beds at immigration detention facilities.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been tapping the Worldwide Expeditionary Multiple Award Contract (WEXMAC) — a vehicle originally designed by the Navy in 2021 to sustain “forces on missions in austere and remote locations across the globe.” In July 2025, however, the Navy broadened the contract’s scope to cover domestic U.S. orders as well.
Last year, ICE partnered with the Army to route a now-canceled $1.3 billion deal through WEXMAC for Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas — currently the agency’s largest detention center. The site has been dogged by reports of poor management, inadequate medical care, and unsafe living conditions.
At a June 25 hearing before the House Appropriations Committee’s homeland security subcommittee, Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) pressed Mullin on the use of WEXMAC for procuring detention services.
“We’re not using it anymore, just so you know,” Mullin interjected.
“That is fantastic news,” Escobar replied.
DHS’s public affairs team declined to comment on future plans for WEXMAC or on any alternative contracting strategy the department might adopt.
ICE turned to WEXMAC last year amid a rapid expansion of detention capacity backed by $191 billion allocated to DHS through the 2025 reconciliation package. Congress followed up earlier this month with a second reconciliation bill directing an additional $70 billion toward ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
Lawmakers have faulted DHS for leaning on WEXMAC, citing fiscal risk and a lack of openness. Because the contract vehicle belongs to the Defense Department, DHS can hand out detention-center deals without the full-and-open competition normally required, and can also bypass certain public-disclosure rules that typically apply to DHS procurement.
A Government Accountability Office report released earlier this month concluded that routing the Camp East Montana contract through WEXMAC contributed to performance failures and squandered millions of taxpayer dollars.
ICE leaned on WEXMAC to fast-track the award and construction of Camp East Montana, which “negatively affected their planning and acquisition,” the GAO found. Most of the WEXMAC contractors that bid on the Camp East Montana deal had no track record of delivering detention services, according to the report.
“Army and ICE officials indicated that the expedited time frames directed by senior leadership dictated several decisions related to their acquisition approach, such as using a contracting vehicle not previously used for detention services,” GAO stated. “They also selected a contractor that did not have prior experience providing detention services.”
The Army further applied a “lowest price technically acceptable” evaluation method to the WEXMAC bids. ICE contracting staff told GAO that the Army made that call without consulting ICE.
GAO found that the facility opened without satisfying key detention standards because ICE had not carried out an inspection before housing detainees there.
“After the facility opened, ICE reported additional problems, including gaps in medical services, the loss of a loaded firearm, and unsanitary conditions, among other issues,” the report noted. “These issues posed serious risks to the safety and security of both detained noncitizens and staff in the facility.”
GAO also identified $18.6 million in wasted spending between Aug. 1, 2025 and March 12, 2026, stemming from payments by the Army and ICE for meals that were never needed.
In April, ICE severed the contract with the original vendor, Acquisition Logistics, LLC, and awarded a replacement contract to Amentum Services, Inc. to run Camp East Montana through September.
“At the time of our review, it was too early to assess whether this new contract would resolve performance issues at Camp East Montana or if it would include a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan,” GAO reported. “However, we have identified significant, pervasive issues with ICE and Army’s planning, acquisition, and oversight of the facility, including the acquisition approach, pricing for meals and other services, and the absence of a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan to correct key performance deficiencies.”
In a related development, Mullin said DHS is also “reevaluating” ICE’s purchase of 11 warehouses overseen by former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The New York Times first reported that ICE seeks to offload seven of the warehouses after spending approximately $700 million to acquire them.
“We are evaluating all 11 that were purchased,” Mullin said. “There are some that just, quite frankly, probably won’t work … We do have issues with detention centers, just not enough bed space. So there are some that we’re trying to make work, but there was some due diligence that maybe wasn’t actually checked off.”
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