
Photos taken by Homeland Security inspectors show migrants being held in dangerously overcrowded holding facility cells with some being forced to sleep on the ground with foil blankets and others only given wet wipes to stay clean.

The disturbing conditions were uncovered last month when Department of Homeland Security inspectors visited multiple holding facilities in Rio Grande Valley, Texas.

The photos showing migrants in detention were included in a report written by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General that was made public on Tuesday.

As public outrage grows over the conditions in which thousands of people - some no more than a few months old - are being held by the U.S. government, the report offered new cause for alarm.

The report was released a day after a group of Democratic congressmen, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, visited the Border Patrol facility in Clint, Texas, on the other side of the state, where lawyers previously reported some 250 children being detained in squalid conditions.

Scroll down for video

The disturbing conditions were uncovered last month when Department of Homeland Security inspectors visited multiple holding facilities in Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Pictured above is families being held on June 10 in McAllen, Texas

The photos showing migrants in detention were included in a report written by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General that was made public on Tuesday. Pictured above is families in Weslaco, Texas on June 12

Fifty one females were being held in a cell designated for male juveniles with a capacity for 40

The inspectors reported serious overcrowding at the facilities and prolonged detention of unaccompanied children, families and single adults.

The report states that children at three of the facilities inspected had no access to showers and limited access to a change of clothes.

While all facilities had infant formula, diapers, baby wipes and juice and snacks for the children, two facilities hadn't provided children with hot meals.

Some adults were being held in standing room only conditions for a week and others were being held for more than a month in overcrowded cells.

Many adults had only been given bologna sandwiches during their time in detention and had become so constipated they required medical attention.

Border patrol management told the inspectors that some adult males had been clogging toilets with blankets and socks just so they could be released from the cells during maintenance.

The inspectors reported that they left one facility fearing their presence was a 'ticking time bomb' because detainees were banging on the cell windows and pressing notes to the glass about how long they'd been held in custody.

Agents were giving detainees wet wipes to maintain hygiene and most adults were still wearing the same clothes they'd arrived in days, weeks and even a month prior.

Families with small children were being forced to sleep on the floor of cages with foil blankets in McAllen. The inspectors reported serious overcrowding at the facilities and prolonged detention of unaccompanied children, families and single adults

The report states that children at three of the facilities inspected had no access to showers and limited access to a change of clothes

Inspectors say 88 males were being held in this cell that has a capacity of 41. Many banged on the window as inspectors walked past and held up notes saying how long they'd been held in custody

Potential violations of federal law or Border Patrol standards: Two facilities inspected had not provided children access to hot meals until the week that auditors arrived. Some adults were only receiving bologna sandwiches, causing constipation and in some cases requiring medical attention. Of 2,669 children detained by the Border Patrol in the region, 826, or 31%, had been held there longer than 72 hours. More than 50 children under the age of 7 were waiting to be moved to long-term facilities, some of them for more than two weeks. In one photo, women and children appeared to be sleeping on the ground under Mylar blankets. Many adults hadn't showered despite having been held for as long as a month. Some were being given wet wipes to clean themselves. Advertisement

Inspectors reported that border patrol agents were holding about 8,000 detainees in custody when they visited and 1,500 had been in custody for more than 10 days.

Around 7,500 people are detained there now, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Of those in custody, there were more than 50 children under the age of seven and some of them had been in custody for more than two weeks.

Customs and Border Protection is responsible for providing short-term detention for those arriving without valid travel documents, the report states.

Government rules call for children to be held by the Border Patrol in their short-term stations for no longer than 72 hours before they are transferred to the custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The report, which was addressed to the acting DHS secretary Kevin McAleenan, urged the department to take immediate action on the issues of overcrowding and long-term detention.

The Border Patrol made 132,887 apprehensions in May, including 84,542 adults and children traveling together. With long-term facilities for adults and children at capacity, President Donald Trump's administration has said it has to hold people in unsuitable Border Patrol facilities for much longer than the 72 hours normally allowed by law.

In a statement included in the report, DHS blamed "an acute and worsening crisis" and said it had tried to expand detention capacity and improve the conditions under which migrant families are held.

An autopsy report also released Tuesday confirmed that a 2-year-old child who died in April had multiple intestinal and respiratory infectious diseases, including the flu. Wilmer Josué Ramírez Vásquez is one of five children to die after being detained by border agents since late last year.

The autopsy report says Wilmer was in 'respiratory distress' when he was brought to an emergency room on April 6. His grandmother, Dorotea Castillo, told The Associated Press in June that Wilmer was already in delicate health when they left Guatemala, and crossed into the U.S. with a high fever and difficulty breathing.

The Border Patrol said after Wilmer's death that it had detained Wilmer and his mother for three days when his mother told agents her son was ill. It didn't specify if that was the first report or sign that Wilmer was sick. The agency did not respond to follow-up questions sent Tuesday.

About 71 adult males were being held in a cell designated for adult females with a capacity for 41

Inspectors reported that it was standing room only in some cells where adult males were being held in McAllen on June 10

Agents were giving detainees wet wipes to maintain hygiene and most adults were still wearing the same clothes they'd arrived in days, weeks and even a month prior

The head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection has already said he is stepping down as his agency is under siege over the discovery of dozens of children in filthy conditions at one of its stations in Texas.

Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner John Sanders said in a message to employees that he would resign on July 5. He did not give a reason for leaving his job.

Lawmakers have so far been unable to impose standards of care and seek broader immigration reforms.

Trump signed an emergency $4.6 billion border funding package into law this week after lawmakers split over putting restrictions on how the money can be spent.

Some House Democrats wanted more standards on the facilities, but they ran up against resistance from centrist colleagues and those in the Senate.

Republicans complained that Democrats delayed the funding.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus led a tour of migrant facilities this week and lawmakers decried the conditions inside the Texas centers.

Lawmakers have said border officials were taking photos of the congressional delegation during the tour.

Some of the female members of Congress said it made them feel uneasy, given new revelations about a Facebook group of current and retired border agents posting derogatory comments about some of lawmakers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) addresses the media after touring the Clint, TX Border Patrol Facility later in the day

Ocasio-Cortez is pictured comforting migrant women inside one of the detention facilities in Texas during the congressional visit on Monday

The migrants, many coming from Central America, were being kept in deplorable conditions and, according to Ocasio-Cortez, told to drink out of toilets.

'I don't know what Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is talking about,' White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in an interview with Fox Business Network, calling members of CPB 'some of the bravest men and women on the planet.'

'They put their lives in danger every single day. They provided three meals a day to people who are here illegally and unlawfully, two snacks in between,' Gidley said.

Trump has made a crackdown on illegal immigration a centerpiece of his domestic policy agenda and 2020 re-election bid. But his efforts to build a wall on the southern border have been blocked in Congress, and he was forced last year to backtrack after his 'zero tolerance' border policy of separating migrant children from their parents provoked widespread outrage.

The detention facilities have become an issue among Democratic candidates vying to face Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Several hundred people gathered in New York City on Tuesday to demonstrate against the Trump administration's treatment of migrants, part of a planned nationwide day of protests by rights groups targeting members of the U.S. Congress.

The demonstrations were fueled by fears that Trump's administration is preparing to move forward with a round-up of illegal immigrants in U.S. cities. Last month, Trump delayed the raids by two weeks.