At least 14 cases of measles have been confirmed at the country’s largest ICE detention center, an agency spokesperson told NBC News in a statement.
People who tested positive for the highly contagious disease at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, have been “grouped into cohorts and separated from the rest of the detained population to prevent further spread,” the spokesperson said.
The agency “is closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with public health authorities to ensure that appropriate medical care and containment measures are implemented; the health and safety of detainees, staff and the community remains a top priority,” the spokesperson added.
Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, whose El Paso district includes the detention center located at the Fort Bliss military base, said the facility is closed to visitors and attorneys because of the outbreak.
In addition to the 14 people who fell ill, another 12 people have been isolated in connection with the outbreak, according to Escobar.
“There has been nothing but crisis after crisis within the walls of this tent city,” the Democratic congresswoman said in a statement.
Since Camp East Montana opened last year, three detainees have died while in ICE custody. Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, of Nicaragua, “died of a suspected suicide” inside the facility on January 14. Francisco Gaspar-Andrés, 48, a detainee from Guatemala, died of health complications from cirrhosis and cardiac hypertrophy.
Another Camp East Montana detainee, 55-year-old Geraldo Lunas Campos of Cuba, died Jan. 3 and his death was ruled a homicide.
According to ICE, the agency provides comprehensive health care to detainees, including dental and mental health services, as well as access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care.
On Wednesday, Escobar called for the closure of Camp East Montana and an investigation into the facility’s contractor.
Camp East Montana holds an average of 2,954 detainees inside its tent-style structure, which ICE increasingly prefers over brick-and-mortar buildings. That’s the highest number of ICE detainees so far in fiscal year 2026, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
Acquisition Logistics LLC, a Virginia contractor that has never before operated an ICE facility, was awarded a $1.2 billion contract last summer to build and operate Camp East Montana.
Since then, the small business run by Kenneth Wagner from his single-family home in Virginia has attracted national attention. Before the Camp East Montana contract, the company’s largest contract, according to public records, appears to have been worth $16 million.
Currently, the company’s website has little information other than an address and a header that says, “Site maintenance in progress.” Wagner could not be reached at the phone number listed at his business Wednesday.
