Vice President Mike Pence saw firsthand what awful conditions many detained migrants must withstand in the United States as he toured an overcrowded facility in McAllen, Texas. The images coming out of that visit are difficult to believe as around 384 men were kept behind mental fences in the hot facility where they didn’t even have anything resembling mats or pillows. It is evident from looking at the images that even if the men wanted to sleep on the concrete floor it would be impossible for all of them to lie down at the same time. The smell in the facility was so bad that agents wore face masks.

A group of men who were behind the chain link fence started shouting at the gathered news cameras, with some yelling “No shower!” A patrol agent at the scene acknowledged that many of the men had not showered for 10 to 20 days for the simple reason that there were no actual showers at the facility until recently. He claimed the longest any detainee had been at the facility was 32 days but some of the men who managed to talk to the gathered reporters said that was not true and they had been there for longer.

New video shows severe overcrowding of men in cages at Texas detainment facility during VP Pence's visit Friday.



A group of men detained behind chain link fencing shouted to news cameras, "No shower, no shower!" https://t.co/iysmT8IUE1 pic.twitter.com/35KKyxb6w8 — NBC News (@NBCNews) July 13, 2019

Agent in charge said there wasn’t room for cots andthe facility didn’t have a shower but got a shower yesterday in an outdoor trailer. Some hadn’t showered for 10 or 20 days. Agent said no one had been there longer than 32 days, but some men told CNN’s Pam Brown and me they had. — Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) July 12, 2019

Earlier in the day, Pence had claimed that reports of detainees being kept in filthy conditions were “slanderous.” But after visiting the facility he said he wasn’t shocked by the horrific scene. “To be honest with you, I was not surprised by what we saw,” Pence told reporters. “This crisis is real, the time for action is now.” Pence also said the conditions were not acceptable, and painted it as the fault of Democrats in Congress who have refused to provide additional funding for the border. “The McAllen station, where our cells are overflowing … ought to be a very clear message to every American that the time for action is now and the time for Congress to act to end the flow of families that are coming north from Central America to our border is now,” Pence told CNN in an interview.

VP Mike Pence fights back against comparisons of detention facilities on the border to concentration camps, calling it a "slander against Customs and Border Protection."



"The Nazis killed people. Our Customs and Border Protection as you heard today are saving lives every day." pic.twitter.com/IZa1Bp4Bos — CNN (@CNN) July 13, 2019

In addition to the overcrowded McAllen facility, Pence also toured a much newer, more spacious family detention center where children and their parents laid in cots and watched television. “Every family that I spoke to told me that they are being well cared for,” Pence said.

"Are they taking good care of you here?"



VP Pence talked to migrants while visiting detention facility in Donna, Texas. pic.twitter.com/x5a5Kn62Hk — The Hill (@thehill) July 13, 2019

Pence later took to Twitter to criticize CNN for being “so dishonest” in reporting the story. “Our great @CBP agents deserve better and the American people deserve the whole story from CNN!” Pence wrote.

CNN is so dishonest. Today we took reporters to a detention facility on the border for families and children and all told us they were being treated well. — Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) July 13, 2019

ignoring the excellent care being provided to families and children. Our great @CBP agents deserve better and the American people deserve the whole story from CNN! pic.twitter.com/hsKsU6umhW — Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) July 13, 2019