At least 14 people have confirmed measles at Camp East Montana, the nation's largest ICE detention facility, in El Paso. Another 112 are isolated for suspected exposure. The facility holds roughly 3,000 detainees. ICE halted all movement at Camp East Montana and closed it to visitors and attorneys through mid-March. The CDC is treating these and other cases in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico as a single outbreak.

Camp East Montana was built in two months, by an unknown contractor. The government views it as the model for more than two dozen additional ICE tent facilities planned across the country. The measles outbreak follows tuberculosis and COVID-19 outbreaks at the same facility and mounting complaints about deteriorating conditions. ICE and DHS did not respond to requests for comment.

1. Close It Down and Investigate the Contractor (Rep. Veronica Escobar, Rep. Joaquin Castro)

A $1.2 billion facility built in two months by a company with no experience is now a petri dish — shut it down and call in the DOJ.

This is a preventable public health crisis. Rep. Veronica Escobar: "It should come as no surprise that there is a measles outbreak at Camp East Montana." She blamed the contractor directly, for maximizing profits over safety. She called for DHS to shut down Camp East Montana and for the DOJ to investigate the contractor for fraud.

Also, the quarantine has cut off legal access. Escobar said that it's good officials are taking the outbreak seriously, but it also means the facility is closed to visitors and attorneys through at least mid-March.

Rep. Joaquin Castro wants another facility shuttered too. He wants the Dilley family detention center closed too. He characterized the measles situation as "a threat" not only to families inside but to employees and surrounding communities. Castro pointed to what he described as a lack of medical preparedness, delayed response, and overcrowded conditions.

2. A $2 Shot Could Have Prevented All of This (STAT News)

There's no US detention standard for vaccinations. The only screening mandated at intake is for tuberculosis. This outbreak was a policy failure, not an accident.

The MMR vaccine is safe, effective, and cheap — why didn't people receive it in detention? Except for COVID-19, there are no US detention standards for vaccinations. The only mandated infectious-disease screening at intake is for tuberculosis. People can be held for months without anyone checking whether they've been vaccinated against measles.

Vaccination screening is routine in far more complex settings than immigration detention. Emergency departments, correctional facilities, and refugee resettlement programs all assess immunization status and offer vaccinations at entry as a standard, low-cost component of intake. Why wasn't this standard practice here?

Without the shots, outbreaks are inevitable. One person with measles can infect 12 to 18 others. The virus stays infectious in enclosed air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves. Congregate detention facilities — shared sleeping quarters, communal dining, limited ventilation, frequent population movement — are structurally primed for rapid transmission. This is a known pattern. The measles just made it visible again.

Where This Lands

The quarantine at Camp East Montana will end, the outbreak will be contained, and the facility will reopen. The question is what happens next — because this was supposed to be the showcase. Camp East Montana is the model for more than two dozen planned ICE tent conversions across the country. If the model facility can't keep measles out of a population of 3,000 in soft-sided tents, the expansion plans carry the same risk at scale. The policy gap — no vaccination standard at intake — remains open. And the contractor that built this facility in two months for $1.2 billion is still in charge.

Sources