Inside the new Fort Bliss detention center that will hold thousands of migrants

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

As many as 5,000 migrants may soon be detained at a new facility at Fort Bliss in Texas. The center opened on Sunday. KTEP’s Angela Kocherga joins us to explain more.

And, just seven months into President Trump’s second term, nearly half of the goals outlined in Project 2025 have been achieved. During the 2024 campaign, Trump distanced himself from the conservative Heritage Foundation's governing blueprint. Law professor Kim Wehle details what’s left on the checklist.

Then, Elon Musk's The Boring Company is moving forward with its planned tunnel under Nashville. The tunnel, called the Music City Loop, has faced questions about its environmental impacts. Environmental reporter Caroline Eggers at WPLN joins us.

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0:00.0	Support for here and now anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.2	MathWorks accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at MathWorks.com.
0:17.5	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:22.4	Yes, there's concern, especially since people have not been able to see or monitor or go in and check on, including members of Congress.
0:31.8	The Trump administration opened what it promises will be the largest federal detention center for immigrants at an army
0:39.2	base in West Texas.
0:50.5	It's Monday, August 18th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR.
0:55.6	I'm Chris Bentley.
0:59.2	Today on the show, during his campaign, President Trump disavowed much of the conservative policy plan known as Project 2025.
1:07.4	But since taking office, he's helped realize about half of Project 2025's goals.
1:13.7	Also, Elon Musk's proposal to build a tunnel for Tesla's is not going over so well with some people in Nashville.
1:21.1	I have heard zero request for public land to be given to a billionaire to create an underground tunnel. Zero.
1:35.4	Checking in on the Boring Company in about 15 minutes. But first, an army base in West Texas could
1:43.6	become the country's largest immigration detention center.
1:47.7	The tent camp at Fort Bliss, just outside El Paso, officially opened yesterday, and it's slated to get a lot bigger.
1:55.5	The Trump administration is pledging more than a billion dollars to the project and said when it's finished, the camp will be,
2:01.9	quote, the largest federal detention center in history. Angela Cacherga is with KTEP in El Paso,
2:09.4	and she tells Sarah McCammon, the facility will initially hold a thousand people with the capacity
2:15.4	to grow quite a bit from there.
2:25.6	This detention camp is at Fort Bliss, a massive army installation in El Paso, and these will be what the Homeland Security calls soft-sided structures.
2:29.1	They're basically large tents, and they will hold, as you said, up to 5,000 people.
2:35.5	We're being told this will be for single adults facing deportation from across the country,
	...

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