Thirteen measles cases have been reported at an immigration detention center in El Paso according to state and federal officials. The burst in infections comes as lawmakers cite increasing concerns about conditions inside such detention facilities nationwide.
Lauren Bis, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said that 13 people held at the Camp East Montana detention facility just outside of El Paso had contracted the disease. Those with infections were quarantined, and health care workers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement took steps to cease “all movement within the facility,” she added.
“Medical staff is continuing to monitor the detainees’ conditions and will take appropriate and active steps to prevent further infection,” Ms. Bis said. “All detainees are being provided with proper medical care.”
The Texas Department of Health, which D.H.S. said confirmed the cases at the detention facility, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Four other measles cases in El Paso were confirmed by the city’s Department of Public Health, which said that the detention center was outside of the city’s jurisdiction. Camp East Montana is a sprawling facility constructed last year on the Fort Bliss Army base to house thousands of detained immigrants.
Earlier this year, at least two measles cases were reported at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Dilley, Texas, about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio, and another measles case was confirmed at a detention center in Florence, Ariz.
Overall, measles cases have been rising nationwide for months. Last year, the United States reported more than 2,200 cases, the highest number since 1991, and 28 states have reported cases this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The highly contagious virus spreads through the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes or breathes. While most cases are mild, one in five unvaccinated people who contract the virus is hospitalized, and vaccination rates have been declining. Certain regions of the country, including parts of West Texas, have vaccination rates far below the federal target of 95 percent.
But even beyond the measles cases, critics of the immigration detention facilities that the Trump administration has been using as part of the president’s mass deportation effort have said they are inhumane, with overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.
Representative Veronica Escobar, a Democrat who represents El Paso, said in a statement that the reports of measles cases at the detention facility “should come as no surprise.” She called its operator, Acquisition Logistics, “incompetent,” questioned whether it was meeting federal standards for services like medical attention and said that the company should be investigated.
Acquisition Logistics, based in Virginia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Thursday, two dozen members of Congress, including Ms. Escobar, wrote a letter to Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, and Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, calling for the Camp East Montana detention center to be shut down.
The lawmakers said that at least three people had died at the detention center since December. One of the deaths was ruled a homicide by the El Paso County medical examiner. The letter also detailed reports of inadequate meals, sewage backups and irregular access to legal help for detainees.
According to the letter from lawmakers, Acquisition Logistics was awarded $1.2 billion from the federal government to operate the facility, despite “no previous experience managing immigration detention facilities.” Federal records show that Acquisition Logistics is currently under contract with the federal government.
“One of the biggest concerns with the Camp East Montana facility is the inadequate medical care being provided to detainees,” the lawmakers wrote.
Ms. Bis said that “it is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care” at the detention centers, including access to vaccines as well as medical, dental and mental health services.
“This is the best health care,” Ms. Bis said, that “many aliens have received in their entire lives.”
Jesus Jiménez is a Times reporter covering Southern California.
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