McALLEN, Texas — According to a Texas border television station, when about 2,000 illegal aliens engage in a mass riot, yelling, overturning tents, and setting fires, it is only a “demonstration.”

“Approximately 2,000 federal inmates were involved in a demonstration at a prison facility in Willacy County,” begins the report by television station KGBT.

The riot took place on Friday at a private prison facility in the city of Raymondville, about 40 miles north of the Texas border with Mexico, as Breitbart Texas reported. The private facility is under contract with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and holds primarily illegal aliens, as well as other inmates facing federal charges. The facility can hold a total of around 2,900 detainees.

In their reporting of the riot, KGBT gave a detailed report about the massive mobilization needed to quell the rioters and mentioned that three local schools had been placed on lockdown as a response to the “demonstration.”

“Multiple agencies, including federal and state authorities, were called to secure the perimeter of the Willacy County Correctional Center, a privately owned prison contracted through the federal government,” KGBT staff reported.

The station then provided a detailed account of the rioting.

“Some inmates broke out of the housing area and made their way into the recreational yard prompting a lockdown of the prison. Some inmates were seen shaking the fence. Tear gas was used in an attempt to break up the disturbance…Small fires broke out in three of the units, and the Raymondville Fire Department is on scene for precautionary measures,” KGBT reported.

While the story is a chilling account of events, KGBT chose to minimize the seriousness of the situation by calling it a “demonstration,” rather than a prison riot by illegal aliens.

Follow Ildefonso Ortiz on Twitter and on Facebook.