Today is
Friday June 05, 2026
DALLAS (AP) – Democratic U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett on Monday confirmed that a 39-year-old man who was killed in a standoff with Dallas officers last week was a member of her security team who had been using a fraudulent identity.
Diamon Mazairre Robinson lived as “Mike King” for years, during which he operated security businesses that hired off-duty officers, Dallas police said during a Monday press conference. Robinson’s real identity was exposed after Irving police put out a bulletin for a vehicle with stolen government plates, which a Dallas officer had seen while working with Robinson on a security job six months earlier.
Robinson fled Dallas police, who attempted to pull him over on March 11, escaping a brief chase before being located once more in a hospital parking garage, officials said. After an hours-long standoff with negotiators, officers shot and killed Robinson after he stepped out of the vehicle and drew a handgun.
In a statement posted on social media, the Dallas congresswoman confirmed that Robinson had helped provide security for her for years, and said her team had followed U.S. House procedure for contracting security. She also said Robinson, acting as Mike King, had worked with multiple law enforcement agencies, including Capitol Police. A spokesperson with the Capitol Police did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
Crockett said that her team was unaware he had been acting under an alias, but that Robinson had always maintained positive community relationships and never gave anyone reason to suspect he had misconstrued his identity.
“What we’re learning about his past doesn’t fit the person we came to know as Mike King,” Crockett said. “ His death evokes a range of emotions. Our hearts grieve the loss of someone we knew and the lost good that could have come from his redemption.”
DPD Deputy Chief William Kenneth said investigators did not discover Robinson’s true identity until after Crockett’s campaign for the Democratic nomination in the U.S. Senate race had ended. Crockett, a former public defender, said in her statement that she believed in people’s capacity for redemption and second chances. She also acknowledged Robinson’s prior criminal history and said they did not believe he had been charged with any violent offenses.
Robinson had posed as a federal officer under the “Specialty Dignitary Police,” a nonexistent agency he created identification cards for, officials said. He also had two active felony theft warrants from 2017, a parole violation, two vehicles with stolen government plates and multiple stolen firearms, including the one he produced before being shot, Kenneth said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts warned Tuesday that personal criticism of federal judges is dangerous and “it’s got to stop,” two days after President Donald Trump called a federal judge who ruled against the administration “wacky, nasty, crooked and totally out of control.”
As he has done before, Roberts was careful not to single out Trump or anyone else, insisting that the attacks on judges are not from “just any one political perspective.”
Criticism of judicial opinions “comes with the territory” and can be healthy, Roberts said in remarks at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston.
But it’s different when the criticism moves away from legal analysis. “Personally directed hostility is dangerous and it’s got to stop,” Roberts said.
U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal, who shared the stage with the chief justice, thanked Roberts because “we always know that you have our backs and that means a great deal.”
The U.S. Marshals Service, responsible for protecting judges, reported 564 threats in the government fiscal year that ended in September, up from the year before. Roberts acknowledged the “serious threats” by noting Congress has responded by increasing funding for judges’ security.
Trump’s most recent comments about judges came Sunday in a post on his Truth Social following a ruling by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg quashing subpoenas the Justice Department had issued to the Federal Reserve.
Boasberg, Trump wrote, is “a Wacky, Nasty, Crooked, and totally Out of Control Judge” who “suffers from the highest level of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), and has been ‘after’ my people, and me, for years.”
Last year, Roberts publicly rejected Trump’s call for Boasberg’s impeachment when the judge blocked additional deportations to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
The president also has been highly critical of Roberts and the five other justices who struck down global tariffs he imposed under an emergency powers law. Trump said he was “absolutely ashamed” of the members of the court who ruled against him, questioning their patriotism and singling out two of his own appointees, Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch.
Trump’s allies and administration officials also have joined in the criticism. After U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston on Monday blocked the administration’s effort to reshape vaccines policy, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche noted that other rulings from Murphy had been upended.
“How many times can Judge Murphy get reversed in one year? The same day he is stayed for repeatedly refusing to follow the law, he issues another activist decision. We will keep appealing these lawless decisions, and we will keep winning. The question is, how much embarrassment can this Judge take?” Blanche posted on X.
AUSTIN (AP) – President Donald Trump has said he plans to endorse one of the candidates in the Republican Senate runoff in Texas, but Tuesday is the last chance for either to withdraw from the ballot and fulfill the party’s hope of avoiding more than two months of bitter and costly campaigning.
Neither incumbent Sen. John Cornyn or state Attorney General Ken Paxton have shown any signs of bowing out, instead launching new advertisements criticizing each other.
Trump told NBC News on Saturday that he thinks he’ll bestow an endorsement this week. But it’s already been two weeks since he originally promised to back a candidate “soon” and urge the one without his support to drop out of the race “for the good of the Party.”
Cornyn finished ahead of Paxton in the March 3 primary, although he didn’t secure the majority needed to avoid a runoff.
Asked about the chance of Cornyn dropping out, campaign spokesman Matt Mackowiak said “of course not” and “we’ve already started our campaign.”
An ad released Tuesday by Cornyn’s campaign highlighted allegations that Paxton had an affair and his impeachment by Texas’ Republican-controlled House. Paxton was later acquitted and denied corruption accusations. Another ad framed some of the same accusations as Paxton violating the Ten Commandments.
As to whether Paxton plans to step down, campaign spokesman Nick Maddux declined to comment. But the candidate introduced a new attack ad against Cornyn on Friday and is scheduled to speak this month at the Conservative Political Action Committee’s annual convention, hardly the signs of a candidate eyeing the exit.
The ad is a series of news clips highlighting Cornyn’s past critiques of Trump, including over the president’s false statements that the 2020 election was stolen, and frames Paxton as the MAGA-aligned candidate.
A pro-Paxton super PAC has also sought to catch Trump’s attention by airing an ad with the same messaging in the West Palm Beach, Florida, market, which includes Trump’s resort home, Mar-a-Lago.
But Cornyn, a more traditional Republican, isn’t retreating from the fight over who’s the better MAGA adherent: the first sentence on his website is “Cornyn votes with President Trump 99% of the time.”
Trump told NBC News that he likes “both candidates very much” and believes that either could beat the Democratic nominee, state Rep. James Talarico, in the general election.
While Cornyn came out slightly ahead of Paxton in the primary, the second round of voting could favor the attorney general since runoffs typically draw a more conservative, activist corner of the Republican Party.
“Cornyn has always had a weakness with the most conservative voters in the electorate,” said Joshua Blank, director of research for the Texas Political Project at the University of Texas, Austin, which conducts statewide polls.
Still, he added, Cornyn’s primary campaign appeared to offset at least part of that disadvantage and “illustrate for the Republican primary electorate what kinds of vulnerabilities that Ken Paxton has.”
The ads, however, matter less in a runoff contest, said veteran Texas Republican strategist Dave Carney. The smaller, more concentrated electorate puts an emphasis on identifying individual voters, contacting them directly through digital advertising and texts, he said.
“Whoever has good data and knows who their supporters are and turns them out will win,” he said.
MARSHALL – The City of Marshall has issued a boil water notice for all residents following ongoing repairs to a major water main. Public Works crews have worked through the night to address the issue. A temporary patch has been installed; however, the system has not yet been fully re-pressurized.
Crews are currently testing for additional leaks and working to remove air from the lines. At this time, the water system does not have adequate pressure to support normal operations.
As a precaution, all customers are advised to boil water prior to consumption. This includes water used for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, and making ice.
To ensure safety, residents should bring water to a vigorous boil for at least two minutes and allow it to cool before use. Alternatively, bottled water may be used. Water distribution efforts are being coordinated, and distribution sites will be announced once additional water supplies have been delivered to the city. Read the rest of this entry »
MARSHALL – Due to a 24-inch water main break Tuesday morning in the area of High and Spring Street in Marshall. Many areas across the city are are experiencing low water pressure while others are without water. This break is being described as a major transmission line. The City of Marshall has been declared a local state of disaster. The formal declaration allows access to assistance from other state and local agencies, according to Emergency Management officials. In the declaration signed by Marshall Mayor Amy Ware says “extraordinary measures must be taken to alleviate the suffering of people and protect and rehabilitate property.”
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LONGVIEW – The death of a City of Longview employee is being investigated following a “workplace accident” that occurred on Monday. According to our news partner KETK, the city said on Tuesday that they are mourning the loss of Buddy Powell, a valuable member of its Water Distribution and Wastewater Collection crew.
Powell died in what the city is calling a “profoundly shocking” workplace incident, which is being investigated. The city is coordinating with counseling services to provide support for staff and those impacted by the loss.
MARSHALL – A water main break in Marshall has impacted the city’s water pressure, prompting a Marshall ISD closure for Tuesday. According to our news partner KETK, Marshall ISD said parents may keep their students home or pick them up from the school if they are already there.
The school bus will be running the elementary bus routes at 11:30 a.m. and the junior high and high school bus routes at 12 p.m if parents are unable to pick up their student. The water main break occurred near Spring and Streets Tuesday morning, which crews are now working to repair, the city said.
LONE STAR — Local and state officials are continuing to investigate an oil spill that spread across much of the shoreline at Ellison Creek Reservoir, with inspectors identifying the source at a well site on U.S. Steel property. According to our news partner KETK, Morris County Judge Doug Reeder met with the Precinct 2 Commissioner and the County Attorney on Monday morning to review the status of the oil spill at Ellison Creek Reservoir.
Reeder also added, a Railroad Commission inspector is on site and continuing an inspection of the spill in coordination with a Texas Game Warden. The inspector determined the source of the unauthorized oil release was a reserve pit at a oil well site located on U.S. Steel property. Investigators with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality are expected to meet with the Railroad Commission inspector Monday to continue assessing the scale of the spill, its environmental impacts and any possible next steps.
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HOUSTON (AP) — An Afghan immigrant whose family said had worked with U.S. forces in his home country died at a Texas hospital after having been detained by immigration authorities, according to officials.
Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal, 41, died at Parkland Hospital in Dallas on Saturday, a day after having been taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
A cause of death is still pending. But Paktyawal’s family said he was not ill.
“We still cannot understand how this happened. He was only 41 years old and was a strong and healthy man. His children keep asking when their father will come home,” the family said in statement.
In a statement, ICE said that Paktyawal had been arrested for committing fraud against SNAP, the government’s biggest food aid program, on Sept. 16. ICE said he had also been arrested for theft on Nov. 1.
Paktyawal was arrested during a targeted enforcement action and at the time of his arrest and processing on Friday, he did not report any prior medical history, according to ICE.
Paktyawal began complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains Friday night while in an ICE Dallas field office processing hold room, according to ICE. He was taken to Parkland Hospital in Dallas where he received treatment and was kept overnight.
On Saturday, Paktyawal was eating breakfast when staff noticed his tongue had become swollen. Medical staff performed multiple lifesaving efforts but he died at 9:10 a.m. Saturday, according to ICE.
“His passing is currently under active investigation,” ICE said.
Paktyawal had previously served alongside U.S. military special forces in Afghanistan and came to the United States as a refugee following the withdrawal by U.S. troops and the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021, according to #AfghanEvac, a San Diego-based group that helps resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the two-decade war.
Paktyawal had been living in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas, with his family while his asylum case remained pending, according to #AfghanEvac. He was married and had six children.
Deaths in ICE custody have soared during Trump’s second term.
The agency reported 14 custody deaths from the start of the government’s fiscal year Oct. 1 through Jan. 6, well on pace to surpass the previous 12-month count of 24. ICE reported 12 custody deaths in the 2024 fiscal year and 12 in the previous three years combined.
ICE has increased the number of people in its detention centers to more than 70,000 from about 40,000 at the start of Trump’s second term. It plans to spend $38.3 billion to boost capacity to 92,600 beds by the end of November, including converted warehouses that house up to 10,000 each
MARION COUNTY (AP) – Bob Sanders bumps along the dirt roads of his 1,100-acre ranch in a beat up burgundy Chevrolet Suburban, the engine roaring as his sprawling cattle operation, known locally for its wagyu beef, stretches around him. A shotgun rides in the passenger seat and battered binoculars sit on the dashboard.
The sloping pasture where his rust-colored cows graze gives way to trees that flank a narrow ribbon of water. It doesn’t look like much, just a slow-moving channel threading through sweetgums and cypress, but this 2.6-mile stretch of the Big Cypress Bayou carries a lot of weight — it connects Lake O’ the Pines, the region’s main water supply, to Caddo Lake, the state’s only natural lake.
Water feels abundant in this part of northeast Texas. But even in this lush corner of the state, water is increasingly top of mind. For Sanders and many of his neighbors in Marion County, about 35 miles northeast of Longview, the bayou represents something increasingly fragile in Texas: water that still belongs to the landscape it came from.
That was partly the reason why Sanders took a step few Texans have taken in decades. He donated part of his water rights to the Texas Water Trust, a little-known state program designed to preserve water for environmental and conservation purposes.
“That’s what I am trying to preserve, is water to keep this bayou system healthy. If North Texas gets our water, this ranch would be in a perpetual drought. It would break us and destroy the ranch,” he said.
Texas is staring at a water shortage by 2030 if a historic drought hits the state. As the population grows, droughts become longer and more frequent, and rising temperatures strain rivers and reservoirs, state water planners warn that without new water sources, Texas could face shortages in coming decades.
Lawmakers made significant investments last year in increasing water supplies, but that looming crisis has pushed growing cities to search for new supplies.
When a Dallas developer announced plans last year to drill more than 40 high-capacity wells in three East Texas counties to export billions of gallons of water from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer in East Texas to water-stressed areas of the state, locals were outraged. They argued the proposal would be an “existential threat” to regional water supplies.
The local groundwater conservation district voided the developer’s permits after a poultry farm sued the district, then the developer also sued the district.
Even in this part of Texas where water appears plentiful, Sanders and his neighbors say the threat is personal and they are ready to protect the area’s water however they can.
“I have the right to water my cattle, family crops, but if this water is pumped into a tanker and transported, that’s a different deal, because it affects everybody around here,” he said.
What’s the Texas Water Trust?
Sanders’ decision to donate to the Texas Water Trust reflects a growing effort by some rural landowners to keep water in local ecosystems.
The program itself is not new. Created by the Texas Legislature in 1997 as part of the state’s broader Texas Water Bank program, the trust allows water rights holders to voluntarily dedicate their water to preserving the flows in rivers and streams, improving water quality and protecting fish and wildlife habitat.
Water rights can be placed in the trust temporarily or permanently, depending on the agreement.
In theory, the idea is simple: instead of diverting water for irrigation or other uses, the water stays in the river system.
In practice, it has rarely been used in nearly 30 years.
Only three water rights have been placed in the trust since its creation: Two on the Rio Grande and another tied to the San Marcos River in Central Texas. The first donation came in 2003, when Hudspeth County rancher Kit Bramblett placed more than 1,200 acre-feet of Rio Grande water into the trust after watching stretches of the river dry up.
Sanders’ donation is the first since 2006. He said his impetus was the historic Texas drought of 2011.
The little bit of rain that fell in a five-year span wasn’t enough to sustain the ranch, and the Sanders family feared that they might run out of grass to feed their cattle.
They began to explore alternative revenue streams to keep the ranch afloat as they watched many of their mature trees dry up and die. Sanders said the experience really opened his eyes to the fragility of the region’s water supply.
“Life is in the water. When a person has a stroke, sometimes you can rehab them,” Sanders said. “But when a tree is short of water and has a stroke, it doesn’t come back. It dies.”
Sanders wanted to take action to preserve the bayou, so he reached out to state agencies and organizations he had already done environmental work with, including the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Caddo Lake Institute and the Army Corps of Engineers. He had worked with the organizations to improve water quality in the river and reintroduce native paddlefish following their decline after the construction of a dam.
Those agencies pointed him to The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit that helps preserve Texas land and water. The group agreed to buy a portion of Sanders’ water rights and place them into the state water trust.
Challenges to donation
Experts say the lack of participation in the water trust is largely due to how complicated and unfamiliar the process of donating water rights can feel to many who own them.
Surface water rights in Texas are treated as property rights and are governed by a patchwork of regulations rooted in a century-old doctrine often summarized as “first in time, first in right,” where the oldest rights have first right to water during shortages. Navigating that system can involve legal filings, state approvals and hydrological analysis that many landowners are unwilling or unable to pursue.
“There’s a lot of complexity around water rights,” said Myron Hess, a Texas water policy attorney who does some consulting work for environmental nonprofits. “Most people don’t understand that the water that’s in the river today isn’t necessarily going to be there tomorrow. Somebody else could take it out and pump it to Dallas.”
Awareness is another barrier.
“Not a lot of people are aware of (the trust),” said Marty Kelly, water resources program coordinator at Texas Parks and Wildlife.
In recent years, Parks and Wildlife, environmental groups and other state agencies held a workshop, gave presentations at water conferences and met with landowners to explain how the trust works and how Texans can participate.
Lawmakers also expanded Parks and Wildlife’s role in 2021, directing the agency to encourage and facilitate voluntary donations, help landowners navigate the process and to manage rights once they are placed in the trust. Kelly said the change gives the program clearer leadership.
“That’s a step in the right direction … There’s actually somebody who needs to be out trying to encourage people to put rights in the trust,” Hess said.
Concern about Caddo Lake
The 2011 drought forced many East Texas landowners to confront how vulnerable their operations could be to water shortages, said Ryan Smith, director of water and science for The Nature Conservancy in Texas. Another driver, he said, was Caddo Lake itself, which he described as “a very special place to everyone.”
Straddling the Texas-Louisiana border, the lake is famous for its maze of bald cypress trees rising from dark water. Several rivers and bayous feed the lake, including Big Cypress Bayou. Because the waterways are connected, the health of one can affect them all.
“We’re going to need to use all the tools in the toolbox to really find the balance,” Smith said. “Not just in this potential sale from the Cypress to the (DFW) metroplex, but in every case where water demand is growing.”
Back on his ranch, Sanders said the decision to put some of his water into the trust ultimately came down to legacy.
He’s nearing retirement and his son Dustin, who lives at the ranch with his wife and kids, now helps run the operation. Over the decades, the family has watched the land shift, with storms reshaping creek banks and droughts shrinking the bayou to a trickle some years.
What worries him most is the possibility that one day the water itself could be redirected out of the watershed or dry up completely.
He’s been talking to his neighbors about the trust. If enough of them decide to participate, Sanders believes it could help safeguard the rivers, the hardwood bottoms and ultimately Caddo Lake itself.
“It’s protection,” he said, “the bigger the army, the more protection you have.”
SMITH COUNTY – One person has been injured following a head-on collision involving a day-care bus and a pick-up truck on Monday morning. According to our news partner KETK and the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, the crash happened in Tyler, on FM 2493, near Whataburger and Tyler Legacy Trails at around 8:20 a.m. Monday.
The driver of the pickup truck sustained injuries and was transported to the hospital, according to Nikki Simmons, the public outreach coordinator for Smith County Emergency Services District 2. No children were aboard the bus at the time of the crash and the driver had no reported injuries. However, both vehicles were heavily damaged.
(AP) – A proposed megadeal in the self-storage business would create a $57 billion company overseeing square footage, if it were combined in a single location, of a small city such as Cupertino, California, or Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Public Storage said Monday that it will buy National Storage Affiliates in an all-stock deal worth about $10.5 billion, creating a company with 327 million square feet of storage at nearly 4,600 locations in the U.S.
Public Storage said it wants to expand its presence in areas like the Sun Belt and other regions that are likely to grow in population.
The deal, if approved, would combine the largest and the fourth-largest U.S. self-storage companies by market capitalization. Extra Space Storage and CubeSmart are the next two largest companies.
Public Storage, which has been based in Glendale, California, said this year that it is relocating to Frisco, Texas, near Dallas. National Storage is based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, a suburb of Denver.
Investors that hold National Storage common stock and operating partnership units will receive 0.14 of a share of Public Storage common stock or partnership units for each National Storage share or unit that they own. This represents $41.68 per share.
Shares of National Storage jumped nearly 30% at the opening bell, while Public Storage’s stock fell less than a percent.
Before the transaction closes, Public Storage and limited partners in National Storage’s operating partnership will form a joint venture that includes 313 properties on National Storage’s operating platform comprising 19.6 million rentable square feet across 28 states and Puerto Rico with an estimated value of approximately $3.3 billion.
Operating partnership unitholders are expected to own about 80% of the joint venture at its start, with Public Storage holding the remaining stake. Public Storage will exclusively manage the joint venture portfolio and will earn customary property management, asset management and tenant reinsurance income.
The deal, which was approved by the boards of both companies, is expected to close in the third quarter. It still needs approval from National Storage equity holders as well as regulators.
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RUSK – The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Rangers and HEAL Corp are conducting another search for Rusk missing man James David Blount. According to our news partner KETK, Blount was last seen near his residence on Dec. 2, 2025, more than 90 days ago. The 57-year-old white man is around 5-feet-9-inches tall, weighs about 200 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes. His vehicle was later found abandoned on U.S. Highway 84 at the Neches River.
The sheriff’s office is searching the woods behind Blount’s house and workshop on Highway 84. Officials are searching this area more thoroughly Friday and Saturday in order to rule out the area immediately surrounding Blount’s home.
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EL PASO (AP) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is terminating the contractor running its largest detention facility and replacing it with a more experienced firm that will work to improve medical care and other services, the agency said Friday.
The contractor switch at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, comes as it faces scrutiny over living conditions that detainees have described as inhumane since its hasty construction and opening last year.
With an average of nearly 3,000 detainees in six long tent encampments, evidence has mounted to support claims of overcrowding, medical neglect, malnutrition and emotional distress. An outbreak of measles also recently hit the camp, which several Democratic members of Congress have called for closing.
Detainees say they struggle to obtain medication and health care, have lost significant amounts of weight because of a lack of food, and live in fear of security guards known to use force. At least 130 calls to 911 were made in the camp’s first five months, which included two deaths, several suicide attempts, fights and medical emergencies, The Associated Press reported last week.
Acquisition Logistics, LLC, the ousted prime contractor, had been awarded a deal last year worth up to $1.3 billion to build and manage the camp at U.S. Army base Fort Bliss. It had no prior experience running an ICE detention facility, had never won a federal contract worth more than $16 million and lacked a functioning website.
ICE has selected Amentum Services, Inc., which has worked as a subcontractor at Camp East Montana, as the new prime contractor, according to a federal notice published Wednesday and an agency spokesperson who did not provide their name. The Washington Post reported the switch of contractors on Wednesday.
The spokesperson did not say what prompted the termination of Acquisition Logistics’ contract, which records show had been set to run until Sept. 30, 2027, and has caused the government to commit nearly $600 million so far.
ICE has said it recently completed an inspection of conditions at Camp East Montana, but the findings have not been made public. Acquisition Logistics and its president and CEO Ken Wagner didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.
ICE said Amentum, known for its work with the military and intelligence agencies, was best suited to take over and improve operations.
“Amentum’s size, maturity and pedigree make them the right partner at the right time,” the spokesperson said. “We will work closely with them in their implementation of higher standards of medical care, more thorough case processing and intake procedures, and delivery of performance requirements according to well-defined accountability measures.”
Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat whose district includes the camp, expressed relief Friday that Acquisition Logistics had been replaced. She reiterated her calls for the facility to be shut down and for the contractors involved to be investigated for “the fraud they’ve perpetrated on the American taxpayer.”
“Whether the new contractor is an improvement remains to be seen, and I remain deeply concerned about the chronic substandard conditions that exist at Camp East Montana,” said Escobar, who has toured the facility seven times.
Based in Chantilly, Virginia, Amentum’s parent company describes itself as a “global advanced engineering and technology solutions provider” serving U.S. government agencies and other customers. The company has provided services for ICE and other Department of Homeland Security divisions in the past.
The notice published in a contracting database said ICE was negotiating a no-bid contract with Amentum to run Camp East Montana, including providing secure housing, medical care and transportation. It indicated the contract would last 180 days, and it’s unclear what would happen to Camp East Montana after that period.
“The contractor must demonstrate the capacity for rapid operational transition and sustained adherence to all regulatory and performance requirements, thereby safeguarding public safety and supporting national enforcement priorities,” the notice said.
Citing the “proprietary nature” of the camp’s infrastructure, the notice said no vendor other than Amentum could provide uninterrupted services there.
The facility is intended for short-term stays before detainees are shipped out, and the average stay has been nine days, according to ICE data. But some detainees have been kept for weeks or months while they challenge their detention or experience logistical problems related to their pending deportations.
The switch comes as ICE plans to operate warehouses across the country to hold far more detainees at single locations than Camp East Montana, with plans calling for some sites to have up to 8,500. Escobar called on ICE not to open the warehouses, including one planned near El Paso, that she said would “serve only as tools for the administration’s inhumanity.”