Two cases of tuberculosis and 18 cases of COVID-19 were recently identified at a massive immigration detention center in El Paso, according to city officials and a Democratic congresswoman.
El Paso’s U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar disclosed the infections after her Friday visit to Camp East Montana, the 5,000-bed tent facility the federal government hastily built last year on the Fort Bliss Army base. In a post on X, Escobar said, “Many of the chronic issues that I have reported out to the public and to members of my committee persist.”
She said medical leadership at the East Montana facility shared that information with her last month in front of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
City of El Paso spokesperson Laura Cruz-Acosta also confirmed the cases Saturday, writing in a statement that city health officials “received notifications related to tuberculosis at Camp East Montana through required reporting protocols.” She said that ICE, which oversees the facility, is “required to report notifiable conditions, including confirmed or suspected tuberculosis.” Texas state law mandates such reporting to local and state officials. But ICE is responsible for diagnosing, treating and managing tuberculosis and other diseases while immigrants remain in federal custody.
Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, and other ICE spokespeople did not respond to detailed questions Saturday. More than 24 hours later, McLaughlin denied in a statement that tuberculosis cases are currently present at the tent camp.
“There are no cases of tuberculosis at the El Paso ICE facility,” she said, offering no further details.
McLaughlin and other ICE spokespeople did not explain when the tuberculosis and COVID cases were first reported and what happened to the people Escobar and city officials said had been diagnosed with the illnesses last month. Federal officials also have not disclosed how many tuberculosis and other infectious diseases have been reported at the facility since the beginning of the year, if the facility had been placed on lockdown, whether people were quarantined as a result and what actions the government took.
“It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody,” McLaughlin said, adding that includes medical, dental and mental health screening. “This is the best healthcare many aliens have received their entire lives.”
Cruz-Acosta, the city’s spokesperson, later wrote in a Sunday afternoon statement that the individuals with tuberculosis were “evaluated and treated by ICE and its contracted medical providers, and are no longer housed at the detention facility.” Cruz-Acosta added that she doesn’t have any information about the COVID-19 cases because those are not reported to the city.
Around 3,100 people were being detained at the facility at the end of January, including 325 women, and “around one-third of detainees have a chronic illness and around 200 to 300 detainees require daily insulin,” Escobar said.
News of the infections comes less than a week after two cases of measles were identified at the South Texas Family Residential Center. The immigration detention center is 70 miles south of San Antonio and the only facility in the country currently holding parents with their children. It was placed on a lockdown on Feb. 2.
The cases of tuberculosis and COVID-19, two diseases that spread through the air, have underscored concern about the conditions at Camp East Montana and other immigration detention centers.
Immigration rights organizations have been warning about Camp East Montana’s “inhumane conditions,” citing physical abuse and alarming medical neglect.
In the troubled facility’s first six months of operation, three migrants have died — one being Geraldo Lunas Campos, who ICE initially said died after “experiencing medical distress.” About a week later, ICE told the Associated Press that he died during a suicide attempt after staff attempted to save him.
The El Paso Medical Examiner’s autopsy report, released on Jan. 21, ruled Lunas Campos’ death was a homicide, after there was so much pressure on his neck and chest that he couldn’t breathe. Local and federal officials have not said whether they would seek criminal charges in the matter, which remains under internal investigation by ICE.
“What is absolutely clear is that the private company running this immigration detention facility is getting worse, not better,” Escobar said of Acquisition Logistics LLC, a small Virginia-based business with no listed experience running a correction facility.
Camp East Montana is the country’s largest immigration detention center, but the Department of Homeland Security is looking to build at least two others in El Paso County and the Dallas area that may hold up to 9,500 people each.
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