EL PASO, TX — A large immigration detention center in West Texas is under quarantine and has been closed to visitors and attorneys due to a measles outbreak, multiple sources told theEl Paso Times, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The quarantine of the sprawling facility follows multiple confirmed cases ofmeaslesand at least two cases oftuberculosisat Camp East Montana, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in East El Paso near the U.S.-Mexico border. The detention center is located on Fort Bliss property.
In astatement on Tuesday, March 3, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar said there are currently 14 active cases of measles inside the facility, and 112 people are being isolated. The detention center will remain closed to visitors and attorneys until March 19 or March 20, according to Escobar, a Democrat whose El Paso district includes the facility.
"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 the statement. "There has been nothing but crisis after crisis inside the walls of this tent city."
Crystal Sandoval, a legal representative with the immigration rights group Las Americas, is one of those who was told she was unable to go and meet with a potential client due to the spread of infectious diseases at the detention center. Sandoval claimed that cases of measles have been spreading in Camp East Montana for the last three weeks.
"The measles outbreak didn't happen just now," Sandoval said. "This has been going on for the past three weeks."
The city of El Paso previously reported that the 13 measles cases were registered at the detention center. The announcement was made ahead of the decision to quarantine the center.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to the El Paso Times' requests for information regarding the quarantine.
ICE detention center scrutinized over claims of inadequate medical care
Camp East Montana has been plagued by controversy since it began receiving detainees in August 2025. Civil rights advocates and Escobar have raised concerns about poor conditions at the center, including allegations of a lack of medical care.
Escobar condemned reported attempts to quarantine detainees at local hospitals, and said her office was never informed of the outbreak and quarantine. She also criticized the company contracted to run the detention center, Acquisition Logistics LLC, which was given$1.24 billionin taxpayer dollars to construct and operate the detention center for ICE.
Escobar has repeatedly raised concerns that Acquisition Logistics LLC, based in Henrico, Virginia, is not complying with its responsibilities. Loyal Source, a company based in Orlando, Florida, is contracted to provide medical services at the detention center.
"Despite what I was initially told about the level of medical care inside the facility, 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," Escobar said in the statement.
"There has also been consistently subpar access to hygiene, janitorial, and laundry services. Whether this has been deliberate on the part of the contractor, or a result of incompetence, the end result is the same: a violation of federal standards and outright fraud," she added.
Following the news of the measles outbreak at Camp East Montana, Charlotte Weiss, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, called for the closure of the detention center.
"The measles outbreak at Camp East Montana is a heartbreaking and foreseeable result of a facility that deprives individuals of soap and delays the provision of critical medical care," Weiss said. "For months, the facility has been on notice of its abuses and refuses to improve its conditions. Camp East Montana must be shut down."
The Department of Homeland Security has previously said that quality medical care is provided to detainees at immigration centers and has denied allegations of mistreatment.
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Camp East Montana faces claims of repeated abuses
Both national and state lawmakers have called for an investigation into claims of abuses and inhumane conditions at Camp East Montana. There have been at least three deaths at the detention center since it opened last August.
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Escobar and congressional Democrats called on theTrump administration to close the detention centerin a letter they sent to the Department of Homeland Security on Feb. 26. Escobar raised major concerns in the letter about the lack of medical attention at the facility and suggested thatFrancisco Gaspar Cristóbal Andrés, the first detainee to die in December 2025, died as a result of medical neglect.
Another detainee, Geraldo Lunas Campos, died in January. His death,ruled a homicideby the El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner, prompted civil rights advocates and local officials to call for an independent probe into the incident.
The death of a third detainee, Victor Manuel Diaz, wasalso reported by ICE as a presumed suicidein January, but the official cause of death remains under investigation.
Last year, the El Paso Times reportednearly 90 emergency 911 callscoming from the detention center in the first 15 weeks of operation. TheWashington Post reportedmultiple violations during the facility's construction, and the American Civil Liberties Unionhas alleged acts of physical violenceagainst detainees and attempts to force detainees to self-deport.
Detaineesheld at the detention centerhave detailed to the El Paso Timesabuses they facedinside Camp East Montana before their deportations, echoing the interviews done by the ACLU.
Both Cristóbal Andrés' widow,Lucia Pedro Juan, and another detainee,Ricardo Andrade Mosquera,who was deported to southern Mexico, claimed that medical attention was almost non-existent, detailing how there was regular flooding and unsanitary conditions in the facility. The former detainees also detailed being verbally abused by guards, including being called "donkeys" and threats against their loved ones.
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Report: Homeland Security taking steps to close Camp East Montana
On Monday, March 4, Escobar said ina statementshe was "rejoicing that this dark chapter is over" in response to reports thatICE is closing Camp East Montana. Earlier, theWashington Post reportedthat the Department of Homeland Security is taking steps to close the detention center.
An internal ICE document obtained by the Post stated that the Department of Homeland Security was looking to terminate its contract with Acquisition Logistics LLC. The report does not include a timeline for closure.
Camp East Montana is the largest ICE detention center in the United States and is designed to hold up to 5,000 detainees for deportation. Escobar's office previously reported that as of February, about 1,800 immigrants were being held at Camp East Montana — down from a high of 3,100 detainees in January.
US Rep. Escobar:ICE looking to close sprawling immigration detention camp
Measles outbreak comes after cases reached record high in US last year
The measles outbreak at Camp East Montana comes after other cases were confirmed at ICE facilities in Texas and Arizona earlier this year.
In late January,two measles caseswere confirmed at the South Texas Family Residential Center, a detention center in Dilley, a small town over 70 miles southwest of San Antonio. That same month,three cases of measleswere confirmed among immigration detainees in Arizona.
The United Statessurpassed 2,000 cases of measles, one of the most contagious infectious diseases, in 2025 — the highest number of cases in 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last year, a total of2,255 confirmed measles caseswere reported across the country, CDC data shows. Of those, 2,230 cases occurred in 44 states, while the remaining 25 cases were reported among international visitors to the United States not linked to any specific U.S. state or location.
West Texas was theepicenter of measles casesin the United States in 2025, with more than 760 cases confirmed by August. State health officials later declared that the outbreak had ended. The outbreak resulted in three deaths, includingtwo children.
Health officials are also still responding to anoutbreak in parts of Utah and Arizona. In January, health officials in South Carolinareported nearly 800 measles cases, overtaking the West Texas outbreak.
So far this year, the CDC has reported 1,136 confirmed cases of measles across the country as of Feb. 26.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times:Texas ICE detention center under quarantine after measles outbreak