Montana
Deer ticks, Lyme disease carriers, found in Montana
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) Montana appears to have a new invasive species, and this one could come with a few nasty parasites.
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services announced last week that three blacklegged ticks, also called deer ticks, have been found in eastern Montana over the past year. While the ticks aren’t necessarily pleasant, the real problem is that they’re known to carry Lyme disease, in addition to several other parasites that can infect people and animals.
The first blacklegged tick was found in Dawson County around Glendive earlier in 2024. A man found the tick on his hunting dog and sent it to the Montana State University Extension’s Schutter Diagnostic Lab, where diagnostician Marni Rolston identified it. Rolston collaborated with scientists at the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton to confirm the identification.
“This discovery is incredibly important because it greatly expands the geographic range of the blacklegged tick, a carrier of the pathogen that causes Lyme Disease,” said Bob Peterson, an MSU entomologist in a release. “The implications of finding this tick in Montana cannot be overstated.”
In the fall of 2024, two more ticks were found in Sheridan County in far northeast Montana, an area popular for bird hunting, and DPHHS, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirmed they were blacklegged ticks.
The percentage of blacklegged ticks that are infected with Lyme disease ranges from none to more than 50% of a population, depending on the area and life stage. Lyme disease infection occurs mostly in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and north-central United States, according to the CDC. Blacklegged ticks found in most areas of the southeastern United States are almost never infected.
Lyme disease can produce a wide range of symptoms, depending on the stage of infection. These include fever, rash, facial paralysis, an irregular heartbeat and arthritis.
No pathogens were found on the ticks in Montana, according to the DPHHS. But their presence means Montanans should be alert, particularly in Dawson and Sheridan counties, said Devon Cozart, DPHHS vector-borne disease epidemiologist.
“The presence of this new type of tick in the state could mean that Montanans have an increased risk of exposure to diseases that weren’t previously a threat in Montana,” Cozart said in a release. “These ticks could have been carried into the state by a host animal, or they could be active and reproducing here – we just don’t know yet. We will be conducting further investigations this spring.”
Blacklegged ticks are not native to Montana. Research indicates they survived the Ice Age in the southeastern U.S. and then steadily expanded northward during the 20th century, spurred by reforestation, a warming climate and animal hosts moving north. In addition, blacklegged ticks have subsequently been spreading west, followed by the lone star tick.
Research has shown that several species can serve as migration vectors for ticks, including deer and migratory birds. People can also factor in, because they move animals around, including horses and dogs. In recent years, the number of nonresidents using eastern Montana to train their dogs in the winter and hunt in the fall has surged. Just like ticks can be carried into your house, one or two ticks could hitch rides to Montana on nonresident dogs from the hotbeds of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.
If anything, dog owners should be concerned because pets can get Lyme disease too. In most cases, a tick must be attached for more than 24 hours before the Lyme disease bacterium can be transmitted, according to the CDC. If you remove a tick within 24 hours, you can greatly reduce the chances of you or your pets getting Lyme disease.
According to the CDC, the established populations currently closest to Montana are in the eastern portions of the Dakotas and throughout Minnesota. A November 2023 CDC scientific review concluded that, because black-legged ticks have established in counties in the far eastern parts of Nebraska and the Dakotas, “it is reasonable to assume that (blacklegged ticks) invaded in recent decades from the eastern neighboring states of Minnesota and Iowa.”
The map showing tick presence could change to include Montana if researchers find more ticks. To that end, DPHHS is launching a citizen-scientist program and is requesting the public’s help in tick surveillance, especially in Dawson and Sheridan counties. Anyone who thinks they have found a blacklegged tick is encouraged to fill out this online form.
Montana is home to the Rocky Mountain wood tick and the American dog tick, which can also spread diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Colorado tick fever. These ticks tend to be brown and are much larger than the dark-red deer tick.
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.
Montana
Escobar, Jayapal, Members of Congress Call on Camp East Montana to be Shut Down – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) – joined by Representative Pramila Jayapal, the Ranking Member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, and 22 other Members of Congress – sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons calling for the immediate closure of Camp East Montana in El Paso. They cite urgent humanitarian concerns following multiple deaths in custody, documented unsafe conditions, and serious deficiencies in medical care.
This marks the fourth letter Congresswoman Escobar has sent to DHS and ICE leadership. The previous three letters have gone unanswered.
The letter can be found in its entirety below and here.
“Secretary Noem and Acting Director Lyons:
We are urgently calling on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS or the Department) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to shut down Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas.
Camp East Montana has been operational for six months, and at least three people have died at the site since December 2025: Francisco Gaspar-Andres, Geraldo Lunas Campos, and Victor Manuel Diaz. The El Paso County Medical Examiner has officially ruled Lunas Campos’ death a homicide, citing “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.”
Camp East Montana was constructed in a matter of weeks and opened before construction was complete and it does not have enough federal staff on-site to provide adequate oversight. Over the last several months, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, in whose district this facility is located, has sent multiple letters to DHS and ICE regarding concerns about the conditions at Camp East Montana, and has received no responses.
According to detainees, there have been constant and consistent problems at the facility since it opened, beginning with the facility’s poor construction and poor ambient temperature control. Upon opening, the drinking water at Camp East Montana tasted foul and made some detainees sick. Detainees continue to be served inadequate meals, including food that is rotten or frozen; last fall, the facility was also consistently failing to make dietary accommodations for detainees. Detainees have shared that they have sporadic access to outside spaces and recreational areas, and that their dormitory pods are cleaned only once every eight days, despite pods housing up to 72 people at a time. Laundry services are not consistent, and people are washing their clothes in the facility showers. Additionally, the facility experiences flooding and sewage backups when it rains, leading to stagnant water.
One of the biggest concerns with the Camp East Montana facility is the inadequate medical care being provided to detainees. Our offices have heard that only the most ill detainees are referred to the medical unit and that there are inconsistencies as to how soon after arriving detainees are able to undergo initial medical screenings. Detainees with chronic health issues who rely on regimented medications for their health have had difficulty accessing necessary medications, including blood pressure medication and insulin.
At least one of the deaths that occurred in ICE custody, the death of Francisco Gaspar-Andres, appears to partially be the result of poor medical care by staff at the facility. According to ICE’s own account, Gaspar-Andres sought medical attention from facility staff for increasingly serious symptoms, but was only transferred to an area hospital once his condition had severely deteriorated.
In addition to our concerns about poor medical care, we are also aware that detainees have experienced irregular access to their legal counsel, including instances of detainees having only two minutes allotted per phone call every 8 days, which is contrary to ICE’s Detention Standards on access to counsel, and that the belatedly created law library lacks adequate resources for the amount of people currently held at the facility. In January 2026, ICE announced the on-site death of Geraldo Lunas Campos “after experiencing medical distress.” ICE opened an investigation into the death, but did not provide a cause of death. However, The Washington Post later reported that another man detained at Camp East Montana had witnessed guards choking Lunas Campos when he refused to enter a segregated housing unit. Weeks later, the El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled that Lunas Campos had experienced “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression” and ruled his death a homicide.
Lunas Campos is the first detainee to die at Camp East Montana as a result of a use-of-force incident, but we are strongly concerned that he will not be the last if ICE is allowed to continue operating Camp East Montana.
ICE was given $45 billion in taxpayer dollars in the reconciliation bill, $1.2 billion of which were awarded to Acquisition Logistics, LLC, a company with no previous experience managing immigration detention facilities, to build and oversee Camp East Montana. However, in the wake of three deaths in custody so far, continued concerns about conditions at the facility, and ICE’s apparent disinterest in responding to oversight letters from Congress, we do not believe Camp East Montana is being run professionally or responsibly.
Camp East Montana must be shut down. For the safety of everyone at the facility, for an end to abuses to detainees, and for fiscal responsibility to the American people, the site cannot continue to operate. We are calling on DHS and ICE to move to immediately close operations at Camp East Montana.
We look forward to hearing from the Department promptly on this matter.
The other co-signers include Representatives Yassamin Ansari, Nanette Barragán, Yvette Clarke, Lloyd Doggett, Maxwell Frost, Jesús “Chuy” García, Sylvia Garcia, Daniel Goldman, Jimmy Gomez, Henry Johnson, Stephen Lynch, Seth Moulton, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Delia Ramirez, Andrea Salinas, Janice Schakowsky, Darren Soto, Rashida Tlaib, Paul Tonko, Lauren Underwood, Gabe Vasquez, and Nydia Velázquez.
Issues: Immigration
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