{"id":546993,"date":"2026-03-26T19:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/546993\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T19:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:43:10","slug":"measles-in-federal-detention-facility-reaches-the-texas-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/546993\/","title":{"rendered":"Measles in federal detention facility reaches the Texas public"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An explosion of reported measles cases<\/a> in Texas\u2019 federal detention facilities broke through to\u00a0the public last month, infecting at least four El Paso residents who worked in one of the centers and potentially exposing the highly contagious disease to the wider population, according to emails obtained by The Texas Tribune through record requests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The emails also reveal that as they grappled with infections, El Paso city officials became frustrated at times by a lack of information from federal and facility authorities, who were apparently not forthcoming with information about how many detainees were vaccinated and who came into contact with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe unfortunately are not able to get the detainee vaccination status,\u201d Brandon Rohrig, the city\u2019s health deputy director, said in a March 2 email responding to a colleague\u2019s question about the percentage of detainees vaccinated in each facility. \u201c[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and the facilities hardly know who is in and out of their buildings, they don\u2019t share the names of some people with us, and they don\u2019t allow us to speak with detainees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together, these details signal how Texas\u2019 outsized role in housing federal detainees, which has escalated under the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown, poses a public health risk to a state contending with worsening vaccine rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Feb. 26, El Paso public health officials confirmed<\/a> the city\u2019s first measles cases of the year were four adults with unknown vaccination statuses who had visited busy locations across the city including a hospital, a department store, two malls and three restaurants.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the same news release, city officials also reported 13 measles cases in Camp East Montana, the country\u2019s largest immigration detention facility located just outside the city limits. Officials said the community cases were not tied to those in the tent camp and declined to provide further information.<\/p>\n

Records now show that those four residents were staff at the West Texas Detention Facility (WTDF) in neighboring Hudspeth County, which holds U.S. Marshals Service detainees including immigrants who may be transferred to ICE custody after completing their sentences. Hudspeth County Judge Joanna MacKenzie said her area is rural and sparsely populated, so many of the facility\u2019s staff live in El Paso. Officials have not reported a case among residents in Hudspeth, even as measles cases have spiked in the Sierra Blanca site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A WTDF detainee also potentially exposed measles to 18 people at Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso after being transferred there on Feb. 7, the emails said.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar<\/a>, D-El Paso, said the Tribune\u2019s findings reaffirmed her concerns<\/a> about the risk that these detention centers have on the greater community, calling them \u201cblack boxes\u201d for her office as well as for local and state officials.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis administration has done everything possible to prevent congressional oversight,\u201d Escobar said. \u201cAll of this doesn\u2019t just put detainees at risk. It puts El Pasoans who work inside of them at risk, and these are El Pasoans who ultimately go back into their homes, into the community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to several repeated questions from the Tribune, including on how measles entered detention facilities and how many vaccine doses have been administered there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, an unnamed DHS spokesperson restated the same points the agency has been making for weeks: ICE detainees have access to \u201ccomprehensive medical care,\u201d including vaccines, and that the ICE Health Services Corps \u201cimmediately takes steps to quarantine and control further spread\u201d when an active infection is confirmed. That official also said there were no more active cases in El Paso\u2019s Camp East Montana as of March 17, while declining to comment on cases at WTDF because it\u2019s not an ICE facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In its own statement, the Marshals Service said \u201call prisoners suspected of having a reportable infectious disease have been reported to the Texas Department of State Health Services and are being isolated in accordance with their protocols.\u201d The agency then redirected questions about the cases\u2019 timeline and vaccines to WTDF, which is operated by LaSalle Corrections. The facility is owned by Hudspeth, but the county\u2019s leader has also deferred to the Louisiana-based company, which did not respond to detailed questions for the story.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a state health agency spokesperson, Lara Anton, said the four WTDF employees no longer pose a risk to the community because their incubation period has passed. She added that DSHS is not currently seeing widespread community measles transmission.<\/p>\n

This year, DSHS has reported<\/a> 147 measles cases as of March 18. Most were in federal facilities: 108 cases in WTDF, 15 cases in Camp East Montana and two cases<\/a> in the South Texas Family Residential Center, the country\u2019s only ICE facility holding children and their parents, in Dilley.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear when and how the first measles cases entered these facilities, though the infections at Dilley were the first to be publicly announced. DHS said they were confirmed on Jan. 31.<\/p>\n

In West Texas, the earliest cases documented in the records involved two WTDF detainees who developed rashes on Feb. 7. Their citizenship status is unclear, but at least one detainee was previously in Customs and Border Patrol custody, the emails indicate.<\/p>\n

Public health experts said these detention centers \u2014 some of which are facing mounting complaints about unsafe<\/a> and inhumane<\/a> conditions \u2014 are ideal environments for the spread of the measles, which can cause serious complications for young children, pregnant women and immunocompromised people. Infected people are also contagious for about four days before and after the rash appears, and they can spread it to as many as 18 unvaccinated individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got all these people in close quarters. You got high contact rates, maybe a lot of movement of people in and out. It is very difficult to verify or ensure vaccination status in these populations,\u201d said Phil Huang, vice chair of the state\u2019s public health policy committee<\/a> and Dallas County\u2019s public health director. \u201cSo with it being so contagious, one case can really spread quickly in that setting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huang added that the cases can easily spill into the community, such as through contact with staff: \u201cThese infectious diseases don\u2019t respect any boundary.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scott Sutterfield, a spokesperson for LaSalle, previously told the Tribune<\/a> that the facility\u2019s medical staff conduct regular health screenings, provide immediate isolation and treatment for suspected cases and work closely with public health authorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MacKenzie, the Hudspeth County judge, also expressed confidence in the federal contractor: \u201cUntil I get a call that [measles] is in my community, I have full faith in the capability of LaSalle.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Troubles contact tracing, forecasting<\/p>\n

To reduce the risk of measles spreading in the community, local officials were communicating with federal and facility authorities about the cases happening inside detention facilities. Emails indicate that they wanted to know information about infections inside the centers \u2014 even as they are outside of the city\u2019s jurisdiction \u2014 to provide vaccines and predict future cases in the sites.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the city was running into roadblocks at times, records show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For instance, after learning that a detainee who was transferred from Camp East Montana to WTDF had reportedly exposed the virus to 90 other people in the camp, the city\u2019s lead epidemiologist Vanessa Casner wrote in a Feb. 19 email clarifying to colleagues that the department did not know how many of those contacts were still at the El Paso site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not conducting contact tracing or monitoring on any of the detainees or staff of the facilities as this information has not been provided to us,\u201d Casner wrote. She added that another 150 people at WTDF were also exposed to measles, but the email doesn\u2019t make it clear by whom.<\/p>\n

The federal and facility authorities\u2019 lack of information sharing has also created challenges for local officials in forecasting cases, as highlighted in an email exchange in late February. The email\u2019s subject was titled: \u201cMeasles Outbreak in Congregate Settings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we receive more reports of positive measles cases in congregate settings such as detention facilities, we need to be ready and expect a large number of positive cases in such facilities,\u201d Hector Ocaranza, the El Paso County health authority, said in a Feb. 22 email to colleagues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ocaranza then recommended using a forecasting tool<\/a> for measles spread in schools to estimate the number of future cases in detention centers. But Rohrig, the city\u2019s health deputy director, responded saying that the tool would likely not be effective because officials didn\u2019t know the vaccination status of detainees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFurther, I don\u2019t believe ICE is being transparent with how many people are actually there and which ones are coming and going,\u201d Rohrig added in his Feb. 23 email. \u201cEspecially as all of this changes daily, so even if they were transparent, it is shifting a lot more than a school ever would.\u201d<\/p>\n

El Paso city spokesperson Laura Cruz-Acosta said the city is \u201cmaintaining open communication and coordination with federal partners and will continue that collaboration.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the state level, Anton from DSHS similarly said the agency receives \u201climited information\u201d about cases among detainees in federal facilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The agency has not publicly declared a measles outbreak this year, even as more than 100 cases have been reported in WTDF alone. In contrast, DSHS officially announced an outbreak<\/a> after confirming six cases in Gaines County early last February. A cascade of resources followed, including significant help with measles testing and contact tracing in rural communities and a webpage that included weekly case updates with hospitalizations and ages of people infected. In total, DSHS spent more than $10 million<\/a> on responding to last year\u2019s historic measles outbreak, which grew to more than 760 cases and resulted in two deaths.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anton didn\u2019t respond to the Tribune\u2019s question about why there has been no official outbreak declaration for WTDF. Though another DSHS spokesperson, Chris Van Deusen, previously told the Tribune that the \u201cstate\u2019s role inside federal facilities is very limited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy definition, when more than 2 measles cases occur in a community where there should be 0 cases, this is an outbreak,\u201d said Flor M. Mu\u00f1oz, a spokesperson for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and an associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children\u2019s Hospital in Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLack of transparency and lack of understanding the urgency of the situation results in delayed care, further spread of disease, poor outbreak control, and unnecessary illness and potential death among the most vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unclear vaccine protection<\/p>\n

The level of vaccination coverage in federal detention centers remains unclear, which records show can hamper public health planning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould it be possible to include in this report the percentage of detainees vaccinated (per facility)?\u201d Eric Musungayi, an El Paso city public health official, wrote in a March 3 email. \u201cThis would give us a clearer picture of outbreak control progress and help determine whether additional vaccine surge efforts are needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rohrig responded the same day, saying that federal authorities and facilities have not shared much information. He added that it can also be difficult to independently verify due to the population in federal detention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state was offering to help look people\u2019s status up, but the detainees are coming from all over and if they are undocumented, then their vaccine status will also be undocumented,\u201d Rohrig, the city\u2019s health deputy director, wrote.<\/p>\n

DHS, the Marshals Service and LaSalle didn\u2019t respond to the Tribune\u2019s questions about how many vaccine doses they have used this year in their facilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s clearer is that state and local officials have provided measles vaccines to the facilities. For instance, DSHS gave 570 doses to the Dilley family facility in early February, Van Deusen said. Records also show El Paso officials anticipating the arrival of 400 \u201coutbreak doses\u201d from the state agency later that month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the same time, it\u2019s also critical for communities to maintain adequate vaccination coverage, as cases inside facilities can spill out to the wider public, public health experts said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cVaccination is key,\u201d Mu\u00f1oz said. \u201cThe most important thing we can do to help protect communities from measles is vaccination.\u201d<\/p>\n

But kindergarten vaccination rates across the state and the country have dropped<\/a> compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas\u2019 rate decreased from 97% in the 2019-20 school year to 93% in 2024-25, according to DSHS.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The state also does not track adult vaccination rates in a similar way. When the 2025 measles outbreak hit El Paso, it caused more cases among adults than children<\/a> due to what public health officials say are high vaccination rates in schools. State data show<\/a> that 98% of kindergartners in El Paso County were fully vaccinated against measles that school year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year, all of the 24 measles cases the city of El Paso reported so far have involved adults, according to its measles dashboard<\/a>. All but two involved individuals with no or unknown measles vaccination history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 94% of kindergartners in Hudspeth County were fully vaccinated against measles in the 2024-25 school year. The sparsely populated county didn\u2019t report a case during last year\u2019s outbreak<\/a>, and all of its cases so far this year were in the detention facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have two unprecedented things going on,\u201d said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. \u201cOne, measles has returned to America. And second, you got this very odd situation with ICE and detention facilities, so it\u2019s created a whole new dynamic that I don\u2019t know that we have a lot of precedent for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen Simpson contributed to the story.<\/p>\n

Disclosure: Texas Children\u2019s Hospital has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune\u2019s journalism. Find a complete\u00a0list of them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97,127235],"class_list":{"0":"post-546993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-well-a-homepage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}