Measles outbreak erupts in one of U.S.’s largest ICE detention centers

By Lauren J. Young edited by Tanya Lewis

This week a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in El Paso, Tex., confirmed an outbreak of measles.

At least 14 people detained at Camp East Montana, located on the Fort Bliss Army base, have tested positive for the disease and are being quarantined, NBC reported. As many as 1,500 people are currently in the facility, according to recent reports. Measles easily spreads from person to person, often through the air in close quarters. Uniquely confined places such as detention centers can promote the spread of measles and other infectious diseases, says Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University.

“Measles is extremely contagious and tends to cause explosive outbreaks in congregant settings like detention centers and prisons,” Nuzzo says. “Anytime you have a group of unvaccinated or undervaccinated people crammed into a common indoor space for an extended period, you can expect outbreaks if an infection is introduced.”

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Vaccination is key to preventing these outbreaks, she says: Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine offer 97 percent protection against infection.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, is “closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with public health authorities to ensure appropriate medical care and containment measures and in place,” an agency spokesperson told NBC. “The health and safety of detainees, staff and the community remain a top priority.”

In a statement, Representative Veronica Escobar of Texas, whose district in El Paso encompasses Camp East Montana, said another 112 people in the facility are being isolated. “In addition to the thousands of detainees housed at [Camp East Montana], there are likely hundreds of El Pasoans employed there, along with 56 members of the Texas National Guard,” Escobar said in the statement. “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.”

In response to the outbreak, the facility has been closed to visitors and legal advisers and isn’t expected to reopen until March 19, according to the local news station FOX 7 Austin. In her statement, Escobar expressed concern that those detained in the facility have only been able to communicate with lawyers virtually.

At press time, the DHS has not responded to Scientific American’s request for comment. Camp East Montana—the country’s largest ICE detention center—is run by a private company, Acquisition Logistics. The DHS is reviewing whether to close the center permanently, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

In early February DHS officials had confirmed the detection of two measles cases in people held at another immigration detention center in Dilley, Tex., which triggered the cessation of all movement in the facility and the quarantine of infected individuals.

These measles outbreaks have occurred amid an alarming rise in the disease across the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already reported 152 outbreaks across 45 states and jurisdictions this year—and these have included rapidly spreading ones in South Carolina and Florida. Last week the U.S. hit a troubling milestone: the country surpassed 1,000 confirmed measles cases just two months into 2026. That’s nearly half of all infections reported in 2025, which saw the highest rates since measles was officially declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. If this trajectory continues, experts say the U.S. will likely to lose its measles-free status, which it earned through widespread MMR vaccination campaigns. A meeting to determine that status has been postponed until November.

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