Two active cases of tuberculosis and 18 cases of COVID-19 have been identified at a massive immigration detention center in El Paso.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar disclosed the cases a day after her Friday visit to Camp East Montana, the 5,000-bed tent facility the federal government hastily built on the Fort Bliss Army base. The city of El Paso later confirmed the cases. Escobar said on X, “Many of the chronic issues that I have reported out to the public and to members of my committee persist.”
Around 3,100 people were being detained at the facility at the end of January, including 325 women, according to Escobar, and “around one-third of detainees have a chronic illness and around 200 to 300 detainees require daily insulin.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not yet responded to questions seeking comment.
News of the infections comes less than a week after two cases of measles were identified at a different immigration detention center, South Texas Family Residential Center, 70 miles south of San Antonio. The facility 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 facility’s first six months of operating, 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, says Lunas Campos’ death was a homicide, after there was so much pressure on his neck and chest that he couldn’t breathe.
“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 two others in El Paso County and the Dallas area that may hold up to 9,500 people each.
Lomi Kriel contributed to this report.
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