An ICE family detention center—a.k.a. a concentration camp in Dilley, Texas—is on complete lockdown after two detainees tested positive for measles.
The facility, which holds parents suspected of immigration violations alongside their children, detected the active infections on Friday. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin confirmed that “all movement” has been halted and some detainees have been quarantined, according to a statement reported by CBS News.
THE DETAILS: This is the same detention center where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos—the boy whose picture went viral after being used as bait in Minneapolis last month—was held with his father before their release on Sunday.
During his time at the facility, the child reportedly felt feverish, complained about being tired, vomited at least once, and wasn’t eating well. When his father asked staff for medication, they said they didn’t have any.
OF COURSE: Measles cases have skyrocketed under the second Trump administration. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spent his time in office denigrating vaccination and failing to take the rising case numbers seriously—while actively promoting policies that encourage future outbreaks. A new measles outbreak in South Carolina just became the largest in the United States since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000.
WHY IT MATTERS: As vaccination rates drop, outbreaks will keep spreading—hitting the most vulnerable populations in crowded, poorly maintained facilities like ICE detention centers and prisons, which are already notorious for inhumane living conditions. Measles spreading through an ICE family detention facility is what happens when you combine MAGA’s immigration cruelty with MAHA’s anti-vaccine crusade.
The administration insists everyone is “being provided with proper medical care.” But when a sick 5-year-old couldn’t even get basic medication from staff, that claim rings pretty hollow.
