Two detainees were infected with measles at a Texas immigration facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father had been held, a Department of Homeland Security official said Sunday.
The two patients at Dilley Immigration Processing Center were quarantined, alongside anyone else who may have made contact, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “All movement” within the facility was halted, she said.
The detainees in question, who were not identified, were in good hands, she said. “This is the best healthcare than many aliens have received in their entire lives,” McLaughlin said.
Dilley Immigration Processing Center is where 5-year-old Liam and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, had been held until they were released Saturday. It wasn't clear whether they may have been in contact with the infected detainees. An attorney for the family did not respond Saturday night to a request for comment.
Measles can be spread through the air through breathing, talking, coughing and sneezing, and it can remain an active infectious agent on surfaces. The infection — noted by rashes, red eyes, fever, coughing, and red bumps at the hairline — can be especially dangerous for infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
McLaughlin said medical staff members were monitoring detainees' conditions and would "take appropriate and active steps to prevent further infection."
Liam and his father were taken into custody on Jan. 20 after having encountered immigration agents upon returning home from the boy's preschool in Minnesota.
A lawyer for the family said they came to the United States in 2023 and were pursuing asylum under "established protocols" when father and son were arrested. McLaughlin said previously that Liam had been abandoned, but his mother told Noticias Telemundo that immigration enforcement agents used the boy as "bait" in an attempt to detain her.
A judge on Saturday ordered father and son to be released from the Texas facility about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio, where other families are detained together. It's also known as the South Texas Family Residential Center.
McLaughlin said the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed the measles cases.
As part of a civil case over immigrant detention, Ben Thomas, chief of staff for Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, submitted a declaration to federal court that said Castro's office was also informed of the measles infections by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Saturday.
The infections add to a national surge in measles, of which 588 cases had been confirmed in the U.S. as of Thursday, according to data from the CDC. On Saturday, Los Angeles County health officials announced the discovery of the second measles case in the region since the start of the year.
Experts are concerned that the infection has become endemic, or an annual occurrence, despite virtual elimination in 2000 thanks to effective vaccination.
Experts blame the latest infections on declining vaccination rates.
Before measles vaccinations became available in the early 1960s, the infection was responsible for about 400 to 500 deaths and 48,000 hospitalizations every year in the U.S. Three people died of measles in the country last year, according to the CDC.
