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"You need to change the policy from the top, that includes the president, that includes Mr. [Stephen] Miller, that includes the very top people at CBP," Schumer said during a press conference after the visits, referring to Customs and Border Protection.

Schumer added that McAleenan had told them that 2 or 3 percent of immigrants coming into the United States are criminals but "if you listened to the president you would think all of them were criminals, they're not."

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, called the situation along the border a "humanitarian crisis of Donald Trump's making."

Friday's visit comes a week after Vice President Pence traveled with GOP lawmakers to the border. In a White House pool report, Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey described seeing more than 380 men behind fences with no pillows or mats to sleep on and not enough space for everyone to lie down.

Schumer said they were told that officials tried to "make things look better" ahead of their visit but described conditions as "awful."

"We were told that they tried to make things look better the day before, 400 people were taken out of one facility yesterday. But even with that it's awful the conditions these people are placed in," he said.

Democrats shared videos throughout their trip, including speaking with children and families currently detained along the border.

"These parents overwhelmingly face a choice: Stay and die, see my daughter raped or have my child put forcibly into a gang and if not they die," Menendez said during a press conference. "If that's my choice as a parent, as a grandparent I'm going to leave."

Democrats pledged that they would push for changes to detention and asylum policies once they return to Washington next week, but any legislation faces an uphill path in the GOP-controlled Senate.

Schumer added that Democrats were ready to work with Republicans but said they had been "intransigent."