DHS locks down detention center hit by measles outbreak

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Sunday it has locked down the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas amid a measles outbreak.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network, that the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) confirmed Saturday that two detainees at the center had contracted measles.

McLaughlin added that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Health Service 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.”

“Medical staff is continuing to monitor the detainees’ conditions and will take appropriate and active steps to prevent further infection,” she said. “All detainees are being provided with proper medical care.”

Last week, DSHS warned Texas residents of three confirmed measles cases in non-Texas residents who spent time in Reeves and Ward counties. The department said that exposure could have occurred from Jan. 13-18 in multiple locations, including Ward Memorial Hospital and a Walmart in Pecos, Texas.

It is unclear whether the West Texas outbreak is related to the two cases in the immigration facility. The Dilley facility recently housed 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, before a federal judge ordered ICE to release the two back to Minnesota.

As of Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 588 measles cases in the U.S. so far this year, three of which were reported among international visitors. The CDC notes that 94 percent of the confirmed U.S. measles cases in 2026 are associated with outbreaks.

The South Carolina Department of Public Health has reported 847 measles cases around Spartanburg County as of Friday, marking the largest spread of the disease in the U.S. since it was declared eliminated at the turn of the century.

Last month, the U.S. met a key condition for losing its measles elimination status after the CDC reported 2,267 cases of the disease last year. A country is considered to not have eliminated measles after 12 months of transmission, a mark that Canada hit late last year.

The CDC recommends the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to prevent contracting the disease. Two doses of the MMR vaccine are roughly 97 percent effective, while one dose is about 93 percent effective, the CDC says.