“I was not surprised by what I saw," the vice president said.

Josh Dawsey / White House Press Pool

Vice President Mike Pence visited an overcrowded and foul-smelling border facility in South Texas on Friday, packed with nearly 400 immigrant men held in sweltering cages without mats or pillows, where some said they had been detained for more than 40 days. The men, held in "sweltering hot" conditions at the McAllen Border Patrol station, told reporters they were hungry and wanted to brush their teeth, according to the White House press pool that visited the facility with the vice president. "The stench was horrendous," a reporter said, and some of the border officers guarding the cages were seen wearing face masks. The temperature in McAllen, Texas, hit 99 degrees Friday, with a heat index above 110 degrees. Pence also visited a tentlike temporary detention facility in Donna, Texas, that holds unaccompanied children and immigrant families. The new and mostly clean facility stood in stark contrast with the McAllen station Pence later visited.

Veronica Cardenas / Reuters Vice President Mike Pence tours the soft sided processing facility in Donna, Texas.

One man near the front of the fence told reporters repeatedly, “Cuarenta días, cuarenta días,” or “40 days” in Spanish. He held his hands in front of him, putting four fingers up on one hand and making a zero with the other to make sure his message got across.

“No shower, no shower,” someone else could be heard shouting. Yet another could be heard saying, “No agua,” or “No water” in Spanish. The cages were so crowded that it was not possible for all the men to lie down at the same time, the pool reporter said. "There were no mats of pillows — some of the men were sleeping on concrete," he said.

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

In a statement after his visit, the vice president's office said it had specifically instructed Customs and Border Protection not to clean up or sanitize the facility beyond what is routine. "So the American people could see how serious the crisis at our border is (overcrowding, lack of resources, beds)," it said. At a press conference, Pence called for additional beds in Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails and said the situation was the reason he had called for more funding for the Department of Homeland Security. “I was not surprised by what I saw,” Pence said. “I knew we’d see a system that was overwhelmed.”

Josh Dawsey / White House Press Pool