Measles Cases Prompt Full Lockdown of Texas Migrant Detention Center
(FILE) Demonstration against ICE in Vegas. Photo: EFE.
February 3, 2026 Hour: 2:09 am
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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security orders lockdown at Texas ICE Detention Center after measles outbreak among detainees.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ordered a quarantine and total lockdown at a South Texas ICE detention facility on Monday, February 2, due to confirmed measles cases among the detainees.
The cases were identified at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center and confirmed by the state health department last Saturday, January 31.
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In response, DHS alleged that all prisoners are receiving appropriate medical care and that corresponding protocols have been activated, including the quarantine of individuals, the suspension of all movement within the center, and the isolation of anyone suspected of having been in contact with those infected.
The quarantine follows a national surge in measles cases, a trend exemplified by Texas -which led the country with 762 infections in 2025- and South Carolina, site of the largest single-state outbreak. Though Texas’s outbreak was declared over in August, the detention center cases have reignited public health concerns.
On the other hand, Democratic lawmakers and activists visited the detention center last Wednesday, January 28, where the Trump administration continues to hold approximately 1,400 migrants, including around 400 minors.
An immigration lawyer expelled from the center last Saturday, Eric Lee, leveled severe criticisms at the facility’s conditions. He described the water as often undrinkable and in poor condition, and the food as inedible due to contamination by insects, dirt, and debris. Lee further stated that children receive no formal education, with barely an hour of supervised activity that functions more like daycare, and that guards treat detainees harshly and humiliate them.
The Dilley facility is one of only two centers in the entire country where the federal government detains entire migrant families -a practice that was paused for several years during the presidency of Joe Biden (2021-2025) and resumed by President Donald Trump as part of his campaign to accelerate migrant arrests and deportations.
Dr. Lee Rogers, Chief of Podiatry at the University of Texas at San Antonio, has formally urged state and local health officials to declare a public health emergency. In a formal letter, the doctor warned that the outbreak is especially severe due to the facility’s congregate setting, which places nearly everyone at risk of exposure and could rapidly overwhelm local healthcare capacity.
Even with modern medical care, the doctor explained, measles causes considerable morbidity: one fifth of the people who contract the virus requires hospitalization, and between 1 and 3 out of every 1,000 infected children die from respiratory or neurological complications.
Authorities in Texas, including Governor Greg Abbott, have not yet commented on this infectious outbreak.
The measles outbreak was reported just one day after a protest of at least one hundred people outside the center, where demonstrators demanded an end to the detention of migrant families. That protest was sparked by the release of five-year-old Liam Ramos, who had been detained with his father in Minneapolis before being transferred to Texas.
The detention of migrant children in the U.S. rose sharply during the first year of the Trump administration. According to the Deportation Data Project, from January to October, an average of 170 minors were arrested each month, compared to 25 during the final 16 months of the Biden administration.
Overall, migrant arrests in the U.S. have reached a record level: in January, the U.S. held more than 73,000 migrants in detention—the highest number since the creation of the DHS in 2001, according to data leaked to local media.
Last year was the deadliest in at least two decades for individuals in ICE custody, with more than 30 fatalities. So far in 2026, at least three more deaths have been reported inside migrant detention centers. This toll is compounded by the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE agents, as repression has heightened in several states, including Minnesota.
Author: Victor Miranda - LVM
Source: Agencies / EFE
