A large immigration detention camp on Fort Bliss in Texas known as Camp East Montana has been closed to visitors and attorneys because of a measles outbreak, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar said Tuesday.
Escobar, a Democrat whose district includes the facility, said there were 14 active measles cases at the detention center and that 112 people were being isolated. She said the camp would remain closed to visitors and attorneys until March 19 or March 20.
In a statement, Escobar said the measles outbreak being taken seriously is “a good thing,” but she added that she was alarmed a “preventable crisis” had created conditions in which detainees could only access their lawyers virtually. She said federal agencies had not immediately responded to her requests for comment.
The Associated Press reported that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Camp East Montana opened last year after the Trump administration awarded a contract worth up to $1.3 billion to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a Virginia contractor that had previously not operated an ICE facility. The Associated Press reported that detainees have described conditions at the camp as loud and unsanitary, with disease spreading easily.
Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, and the Associated Press reported that the disease has surged through parts of Texas. It said West Texas was hit especially hard and that health departments were starved of the funding needed to run vaccine programs.
As the measles outbreak continues to affect U.S. communities, the closure of Camp East Montana to visitors and attorneys highlights how public-health measures can tighten access to legal support for people held in detention—while authorities work to isolate those at the facility.