🏕️🚨 Feds to Build Largest U.S. Migrant Detention Center at Fort Bliss, Texas by 2027
⚖️🛑 Court Strikes Down Trump’s Order Ending Birthright Citizenship as Unconstitutional 🏥⚖️ South Texas Woman Traumatized in Hospital Before Facing Dropped Abortion-Related
🚨 Feds to Build Largest U.S. Migrant Detention Center at Fort Bliss, Texas by 2027
Colleen DeGuzman, The Texas Tribune.- The U.S. government has awarded a $1.26 billion contract to Virginia-based Acquisition Logistics LLC to construct and operate a 5,000-bed migrant detention facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso, making it the largest immigration detention center in the country. The facility, a tent-based camp expected to open by September 2027, is part of the Trump administration’s plan to ramp up deportations by arresting over 1 million immigrants annually. Critics have raised concerns about the center’s desert location, citing extreme heat and potential health risks. Human Rights Watch and other advocacy groups have previously documented unsafe and abusive conditions in similar detention sites. The new Fort Bliss project follows controversial facilities like the “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida and the 2018 Tornillo tent city. The selected contractor lacks a track record in detention management, prompting further scrutiny from immigration advocates and civil rights groups.
📌 Key Facts:
Facility will house 5,000 migrants in tent structures at Fort Bliss, El Paso.
A $1.26 billion contract has been awarded, with $232 million paid upfront.
Opening set for September 2027.
Contractor Acquisition Logistics LLC has no known experience with detention.
Follows prior controversial tent cities in Tornillo, TX, and Florida.
Part of Trump administration’s effort to detain and deport 1 million immigrants annually.
Why it matters:
The center represents a significant expansion of the U.S. immigration detention infrastructure. It could become a flashpoint for legal and humanitarian challenges given its location, size, and the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement agenda.
What’s next:
Watchdog groups and lawmakers are expected to closely monitor conditions, contractor performance, and civil rights compliance as construction begins. Protests and legal challenges may arise, echoing opposition to prior facilities like Tornillo.
🔍📋 Trump Administration Deports 238 Venezuelan Men to Salvadoran Prison, Most Without U.S. Criminal Convictions
ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, Alianza Rebelde Investiga & Cazadores de Fake News.- An unprecedented investigation reveals that 238 Venezuelan men were deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador and imprisoned in the country’s maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center — despite most having no U.S. criminal convictions beyond immigration violations. A joint four-month investigation by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, and Venezuelan outlets Alianza Rebelde Investiga and Cazadores de Fake News found that many of the men were deported based on vague or unsubstantiated allegations of gang affiliation. Researchers reviewed thousands of pages of court records and immigration data and interviewed more than 100 families. The investigation shows how Trump’s mass deportation push has swept up nonviolent individuals and subjected them to life-threatening conditions abroad. Despite repeated inquiries, the Department of Homeland Security and White House declined to provide detailed responses about individual cases or evidence behind the deportations.
📌 Key Facts:
238 Venezuelan men deported to El Salvador by U.S. authorities.
Most had no U.S. criminal convictions aside from immigration violations.
Deported men are held in CECOT, El Salvador’s maximum-security prison.
The investigation involved interviews with over 100 families, court records, and immigration data.
DHS and White House did not provide case-specific evidence or comment on individual detentions.
Why it matters:
This investigation exposes the human toll of a mass deportation program operating with limited transparency and questionable due process. It challenges the administration’s claims that all deportees pose a security threat, raising legal and ethical concerns about U.S. deportation policy and international human rights obligations.
What’s next:
Reporters continue investigating and updating the public database of deported individuals. Families and community advocates are calling for legal reviews, repatriation for the wrongfully deported, and independent oversight of ICE deportation practices. ProPublica and its partners have opened a secure tip line to gather more information.
🏥⚖️ South Texas Woman Traumatized in Hospital Before Facing Dropped Abortion-Related Murder Charge
Francisco E. Jimenez, The Monitor.- New records reveal the graphic and traumatic details of Lizelle Gonzalez’s 2022 hospitalization and arrest in Starr County, Texas, after she was charged with murder for a self-induced abortion. Gonzalez, then 26, was arrested just months after Texas implemented Senate Bill 8, which restricts abortion access but does not criminalize patients. After national outrage, the district attorney dropped the case, but Gonzalez endured invasive treatment, four hours of unmanaged labor pain, and conflicting reports about her condition and intent. Her fetus was later delivered via C-section with no signs of life. Investigative documents expose medical mismanagement, a rushed indictment, and alleged prosecutorial misconduct that led to state sanctions. Gonzalez is now suing Starr County officials for $1 million in damages. The case highlights growing fears over criminalization of pregnancy outcomes under restrictive abortion laws.
📌 Key Facts:
Lizelle Gonzalez was arrested in 2022 after allegedly self-inducing an abortion with Cytotec.
Starr County District Attorney dropped the charge, calling it legally baseless under Texas law.
Gonzalez endured four hours of unmanaged labor pain and a traumatic C-section.
The case led to sanctions against the district attorney for ethical violations.
Gonzalez filed a federal lawsuit seeking $1 million in damages.
SB 8 prohibits physicians from performing abortions, but does not criminalize pregnant people.
Why it matters:
This case underscores the potential for misuse of vague abortion laws to criminalize women, especially in border communities. It raises questions about medical ethics, prosecutorial overreach, and the chilling effect such prosecutions can have on health care access and reporting.
What’s next:
The federal lawsuit will proceed in court, while legal experts and advocacy groups are calling for clearer protections for patients under Texas law. The case could become a landmark in the national debate over abortion criminalization and health care discrimination.
⚖️🛑 Court Strikes Down Trump’s Order Ending Birthright Citizenship as Unconstitutional
AP News.- A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, affirming a nationwide block previously imposed by a lower court. In a 2-1 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the order—which sought to deny U.S. citizenship to children born on American soil to undocumented or temporary immigrant parents—violated the 14th Amendment. The court emphasized that birthright citizenship is guaranteed to all born in the U.S., regardless of parental status. The ruling follows a similar block by a federal judge in New Hampshire and sets the stage for a likely Supreme Court battle. The Trump administration had claimed the policy was aimed at national security and immigration enforcement, but civil rights groups and legal scholars widely condemned it as discriminatory and unconstitutional. The case now moves closer to the high court as political and legal pressure mounts.
📌 Key Facts:
The 9th Circuit ruled Trump's order unconstitutional and upheld the nationwide block.
The executive order sought to deny U.S. citizenship to children of undocumented or temporary immigrants.
The 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship to all born in the U.S.
A prior New Hampshire court had also blocked the order.
Trump’s legal team is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Why it matters:
This ruling affirms the constitutional principle of birthright citizenship, a core tenet of U.S. civil rights law, and pushes back against executive overreach on immigration. It could define the legal limits of presidential authority on citizenship policy.
What’s next:
The Trump administration is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, potentially setting up a high-stakes legal showdown during the 2026 midterm election cycle. Advocacy groups plan to expand voter education and legal defense efforts in immigrant communities.