EL PASO, Texas — Camp East Montana, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in El Paso, is under quarantine for a measles outbreak.
First reported by the El Paso Times, the facility has confirmed multiple cases of measles and two cases of tuberculosis. According to the article, a lawyer with an immigration rights group was told to not meet with a potential client due to the sickness spreading in the facility.
Thirteen cases of measles were confirmed at the facility on Feb. 27, along with four other cases throughout El Paso. The city encouraged vaccination for measles.
“Case information for this facility is reported through federal authorities,” the City of El Paso said in a news release. “The City is sharing this information for regional awareness and will continue coordinating with federal partners as appropriate. The City’s public health laboratory has provided testing support when requested and has supplied vaccine for administration by on-site health providers as part of prevention efforts.”
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, said in a statement that ICE’s communication and treatment of the outbreak is poor and blamed Acquisition Logistics, the company that runs the facility.
“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. “There has also been consistently sub-par 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.”
Escobar also called for the closure of the facility and an investigation into Acquisition Logistics.
“There has been nothing but crisis after crisis inside the walls of this tent city,” Escobar said. “I again renew my call for DHS to shut down Camp East Montana and for the Department of Justice to investigate the contractor for fraud.”
According to Escobar’s release, the facility is closed to the public until March 19 or 20 because of the outbreak.