Trump Admin's Deal With Contractor To Build Tent City for Migrants Falls Through, Posing Obstacle in Mass Deportation Efforts

Deployed Resources, a contractor that has previously provided tent facilities for festivals, was set to make a multi-billion dollar deal with the Trump administration to build thousands of beds for migrants waiting deportation. But new reports show that the agreement fell through, putting a significant obstacle in the White House's mass deportation plans.

Upon returning to office, President Donald Trump announced he would add 30,000 beds for immigrants at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base in Cuba known for housing people connected with the 9/11 attacks. However, that plan did not materialize due to cost and logistical issues.

That is when the administration turned to Deployed Resources with a plan to build a sprawling tent city for migrants at Fort Bliss, a military base in Texas. A previous investigation by ProPublica had shown that the company had secured more than $4 billion in government contracts. Yet two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News the new agreement also fell through, with language appearing on the contract posted to a public records database saying it was terminated.

The document, verified by NBC News, said the contract with the company had been terminated "for convenience" and cites Trump's executive order about "radical transparency" and "wasteful spending," but it is unclear whether cost savings played into the decision.

A senior official with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, confirmed that the contract was terminated but said a "revised procurement action for Fort Bliss is active and ongoing."

"While we cannot confirm individual pre-decisional conversations, we can confirm that ICE is exploring all options to meet its current and future detention requirements," the official added.

Looking for space to house migrants waiting for deportation has been a major obstacle for the Trump administration, which seeks to carry out the largest "deportation operation in American history." 141 ICE facilities now hold 47,928 detainees, far above the 41,500 approved by Congress, which means ICE is not funded by Congress for every bed it uses and could face a budget shortfall by the end of the year.

Furthermore, a major obstacle in quickly building beds for migrants is that they need to meet safety requirements mandated by long-standing federal court settlements.

Former DHS officials who requested anonymity in ProPublica's investigation warned that using tent facilities for long-term ICE detainees is unprecedented and dangerous, especially for vulnerable populations. The officials highlighted basic health and safety concerns, as well as the potential complexity of segregating those who are potentially violent from non-violent immigrants and minors.

"People that you've ripped out of the community, people you've arrested, people who want to get back to their children, people who are scared, are going to behave differently than the border crossing population— you have a lot more fear in the population," one of the officials pointed out as important factors to consider.

Originally published on Latin Times