Measles Overtakes ICE Detention Center as Immigrants Remain Trapped

An ICE family detention center in Texas is halting “all movement” after finding two cases of measles.

The cases were detected Friday, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, confirming that two detainees had “active measles infections.” The facility in Dilley, Texas, located about an hour away from San Antonio, holds parents suspected of immigration violations alongside their children.

Some detainees have been quarantined, McLaughlin said, adding that everyone is “being provided with proper medical care.”

The Dilley facility is where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, whose picture went viral after he was detained in Minneapolis, last month by ICE agents, was held, along with his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, before being released Sunday. During his time in the detention center, Conejo Ramos reportedly felt feverish, complained about being tired, vomited at least once, and was not eating well, but was not reported to have measles. When Conejo Arias asked for medication from staff, they said they didn’t have any.

Measles cases have skyrocketed under the second Trump administration, with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. denigrating vaccination and failing to take the rising number of cases seriously, while promoting policies that will encourage future outbreaks. A new measles outbreak in South Carolina, for example, just became the largest in the United States since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000.

As the level of measles vaccination drops, the number of outbreaks is only going to go up, spreading the disease among vulnerable populations in crowded areas like ICE detention centers and prisons, which are already known to have inhumane living conditions. Measles spreading to an ICE detention facility seems to be an unholy by-product of MAGA immigration cruelty and MAHA’s anti-vaccine agenda.