A troubled U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Texas has been put under quarantine after an outbreak of measles – and could be shuttered altogether.
The Camp East Montana site, which has faced a series of controversies and a number of deaths since it opened eight months ago, has been shut to visitors and to detainees’ legal representatives until at least March 20.
There are 14 active measles cases at the center on the Fort Bliss Army base and 112 people are being isolated, said U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat who has been calling for it to be shut down permanently.
The wheels for this may already be in motion according to The Washington Post, which this week reported an internal ICE document indicates a letter terminating the camp’s contract has been drafted. The Department for Homeland Security insists no decisions have been made.
The site, designed to take up to 5,000 detainees, has seen “crisis after crisis” since it opened last year, Escobar said.
“While on one hand, it is a good thing that the measles outbreak is being taken seriously, on the other hand, I am alarmed that a preventable crisis has created conditions where detainees can only access their lawyers virtually,” Escobar said in a statement.
“There has been nothing but crisis after crisis inside the walls of this tent city.”
Three deaths have been reported at the site, including a Cuban migrant held in solitary confinement whose death was ruled a homicide in an autopsy report in January.
The camp opened last August after the Trump administration awarded a contract worth around $1.2 billion to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a Virginia contractor that had previously not operated an ICE facility.
Escobar has repeatedly highlighted the conditions within, including numerous allegations of inadequate medical care.
“It became very clear to me early on that serious medical issues were being overlooked and, in some cases, medical attention was non-existent for urgent health issues,” she claimed. “There has also been consistently sub-par access to hygiene, janitorial and laundry services.”
An internal report by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention oversight unit, obtained by The Post in September, found 60 violations of federal standards in 50 days.
These included failing to monitor and treat medical conditions, lacking basic procedures for safeguarding staff and detainees, failing to provide means for them to contact lawyers, and failing to learn about their cases or enable them to file complaints, the report claimed.
The existing contract for the center is due to run until September, 2027. The draft letter referred to in the Post does not set out a date for the facility’s potential closure.
DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis told the newspaper the department is reviewing Camp East Montana to ensure it meets legally-required standards, but stressed “no decisions have been made related to contract extension, termination, or award.”
“ICE is always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody,” she said. “DHS undergoes rigorous audits and inspections of our facilities to ensure they are meeting our high standards.”
The Independent has contacted the DHS and the contractor for comment.
The department hit back at The Post’s reporting on the issue last September and insisted detainees were properly looked after.
“Here are the facts: any claim that there are ‘inhumane’ conditions at ICE detention centers are categorically false,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said at the time.
“All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members. It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody.”
The center’s measles outbreak comes as the US grapples with its most severe spread since 1991.
Last year saw 2,144 cases across 44 states, resulting in three deaths, all among unvaccinated individuals. Texas saw 762 reported cases and two child fatalities, a figure experts believe was likely an undercount.
A South Carolina outbreak which began in January this year has been one of the nation’s worst, leading to hundreds of children being quarantined due to school exposures, some multiple times.
Measles, caused by a highly contagious airborne virus, spreads easily through breathing, sneezing, or coughing. Though considered eliminated from the US since 2000, the country is now on course to lose this status when officials meet in November this year.
