Inside Camp East Montana: How a $1.2 Billion Tent City Became Ground Zero for a Measles Crisis

A measles outbreak inside the largest immigration detention facility in the United States is raising urgent questions about public health, government contracting, and the human cost of mass detention — all while the country faces its worst measles year in more than two decades.

The Outbreak

On February 26, 2026, El Paso health officials confirmed 17 measles cases in the city and surrounding area — 13 of them inside Camp East Montana, a sprawling Immigration and Customs Enforcement tent encampment on the Fort Bliss Army base [1][2]. The four community cases involve adults in their 20s and 30s, all with unknown vaccination statuses, and officials say those infections are not connected to the facility's cluster [3].

The ICE Health Services Corps responded by quarantining all individuals suspected of contact with infected detainees and halting all movement within Camp East Montana [2]. Lauren Bis, deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, stated that "medical staff is continuing to monitor the detainees' conditions and will take appropriate and active steps to prevent further infection" and that "all detainees are being provided with proper medical care" [4].

But for critics of the facility, the measles cases are merely the latest — and perhaps most predictable — failure at a detention center that has been beset by problems since it opened its gates in August 2025.

A Troubled History in Six Months

Camp East Montana was constructed in a record two months after the Trump administration awarded a $1.2 billion contract to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a Virginia-based firm that had never won a federal contract worth more than $16 million and has no listed experience running a correctional facility [5][6]. The ACLU has described it as the largest internment facility in the United States, with a planned capacity of 5,000 detainees. As of late November 2025, nearly 2,780 people were being held there — more than at any other ICE detention center in the country [7].

The problems began almost immediately. During its first 50 days of operation, conditions at the camp violated at least 60 federal detention standards, according to ICE's own detention oversight unit [5]. Detainees and their advocates have reported "foul" drinking water, rotten and insufficient food, sewage flooding, and near-nonexistent medical attention [6][8].

Then came the deaths. In a span of just six weeks between December 2025 and January 2026, three people died at the facility [9]:

• Francisco Gaspar-Andres, a 48-year-old Guatemalan man, died on December 3 of liver and kidney failure after being hospitalized for more than two weeks.
• Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban immigrant, died under circumstances initially described by ICE as "distress." Only after the El Paso medical examiner informed his family of a likely homicide did ICE officials change their account, first alleging a suicide attempt, then concluding his death resulted from force. The autopsy ruled it a homicide caused by asphyxia [10].
• Victor Manuel Diaz died on January 14 in what ICE described as a "presumed suicide" [9].

Former ICE officials told the Texas Tribune that a homicide involving staff at a detention facility had not occurred in at least 15 years [6].

Disease Piles On

The measles outbreak did not arrive in a vacuum. On February 7, just weeks before the measles cases surfaced, health officials confirmed two cases of tuberculosis and 18 cases of COVID-19 at Camp East Montana [11]. U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, reported that roughly one-third of detainees have a chronic illness and that 200 to 300 require daily insulin — raising questions about whether the facility's medical infrastructure can manage routine care, let alone an infectious disease emergency [7].

Public health experts have warned that detention facilities are uniquely vulnerable to measles outbreaks. The virus is one of the most contagious known to science, spreading through the air and lingering in enclosed spaces for up to two hours after an infected person leaves. Crowded conditions, shared air systems, and populations with inconsistent vaccination histories create ideal conditions for transmission [12].

"Measles in an ICE facility is a public health failure," read a headline in STAT News, which argued the outbreak was entirely preventable [12]. The article noted that standard public health protocols call for verifying vaccination status and providing MMR vaccines upon intake at congregate settings — measures that critics say were inadequately implemented at Camp East Montana.

Congressional Pressure Mounts

The measles outbreak triggered a significant political response. On the same day the cases were announced, Escobar and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, led a letter signed by 24 House Democrats calling on DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons to immediately shut down Camp East Montana [6][13].

"The conditions at Camp East Montana are a direct result of the manner in which Acquisition Logistics operates the facility: an explicit effort to maximize profits at the expense of federal standards for services such as medical attention," Escobar said in a statement [2].

The letter cited the three deaths, the disease outbreaks, the dozens of federal standard violations, and accounts from the ACLU and other human rights organizations that documented "physical and sexual abuse, medical neglect, and intimidation to self-deport" [7][6]. The lawmakers also noted that Camp East Montana is being viewed as a model for more than two dozen additional ICE facilities the government plans to convert or construct across the country — a prospect they described as alarming given its track record.

A National Measles Crisis

The Camp East Montana outbreak is unfolding against the backdrop of the worst measles year in the United States in over two decades. As of February 26, 2026, 1,136 confirmed measles cases had been reported nationally, with 10 new outbreaks identified in 2026 alone [14]. The country now faces the real possibility of losing its measles elimination status — a designation it earned in 2000 — if a chain of local transmission persists for more than 12 months [15].

The crisis extends beyond El Paso. Immigration detention facilities across the country have become focal points. At least two measles cases were confirmed at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas, a family detention facility that drew national attention after the arrest and detention of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father [16]. A single case was confirmed at a detention center in Florence, Arizona, in January [14]. Nearly half of all reported measles infections nationally — 44.7% — have been linked to the South Texas Family Residential Center, with an additional 16.5% connected to the Port Isabel Service Processing Center [17].

National vaccination rates tell part of the story. MMR coverage among kindergarteners has dropped from 95.2% during the 2019-2020 school year to 92.5% during 2024-2025 — below the 95% threshold public health officials consider necessary for herd immunity [15]. Experts point to anti-vaccine rhetoric and policy shifts at both federal and state levels as contributing factors.

The economic toll is also mounting. NBC News reported that measles outbreaks could cost the U.S. over $1 billion per year if vaccine rates continue to decline [18]. For public health officials, legislators, and administrators of congregate settings like prisons and detention centers, the numbers present a stark warning.

The Bigger Picture

Camp East Montana sits at the intersection of several converging crises: a national measles resurgence fueled by declining vaccination rates, an immigration enforcement apparatus expanding at unprecedented speed, and questions about whether private contractors with no relevant experience can safely manage the health and safety of thousands of confined human beings.

The facility was built fast and cheaply by government standards. It was staffed by a company with no track record in corrections. It opened to immediate and documented violations of federal standards. Within six months, three people were dead — one by homicide — and infectious diseases were spreading through a population with limited access to medical care.

For the 3,000-plus men and women currently detained behind the tent walls of Camp East Montana, the 13 measles cases represent one more entry in a growing catalog of failures. For public health officials in El Paso and beyond, the outbreak is a warning about what happens when congregate settings are built without adequate medical infrastructure. And for the two dozen lawmakers demanding its closure, Camp East Montana has become a symbol of a detention system that, in their view, has prioritized speed and scale over safety.

Whether the Trump administration heeds those calls — or instead replicates the Camp East Montana model at facilities across the country — may determine not just the fate of detained immigrants, but the trajectory of the nation's public health.

What Residents Need to Know

El Paso health officials are urging all residents with unknown vaccination histories to receive the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which provides approximately 97% protection after two doses [3]. The city has published exposure locations and is conducting contact tracing for the four community cases. Measles symptoms typically appear 7 to 14 days after exposure and include high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, and a characteristic rash that spreads from the face to the rest of the body. Officials urge anyone experiencing these symptoms to call a healthcare provider before visiting a clinic to avoid potential exposure to others.