A Texas immigration detention center holding hundreds of children and families should be closed “immediately” as a measles outbreak takes hold, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said.
“Because of the close-quarter conditions at Dilley, lack of prompt medical response and capacity, and lack of expertise with diseases such as measles, Dilley is not equipped to combat any spread,” Castro said on social media, referring to the detention center in Dilley.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed two detainees at the facility run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement have active measles infections.
“ICE Health Services Corps immediately took steps to quarantine and control further spread and infection, ceasing all movement within the facility and quarantining all individuals suspected of making contact with the infected,” DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
This is the same facility Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old detained in a Minneapolis suburb, was being held at until Sunday, when Castro helped bring him and his father back home.
Other children from Ramos’ school and elsewhere are still being detained at this site, despite ICE not confirming any of them or their parents as criminals. They’ve all simply been swept into President Donald Trump’s reckless mass deportation campaign.
Anyone being held at this ICE facility who has measles should be moved to a medical facility for proper care, Castro said, and everyone else should be let go.
“Children and families, who have committed no crime, should not be suffering and do not belong in prison,” the Texas congressman said. “In the interest of public health and safety, Dilley should be shut down immediately.”