Migrants in US-Mexico border detention centre forced to stand on toilets to breathe as 900 crammed into facility for 125
US illegal migrants are being cooped up in a border detention centre that's so overcrowded inmates have to stand on toilets to breathe, according to a official report.
The facility in El Paso, Texas, has a maximum capacity of 125 detainees but inspectors found it to be holding up to 900 men, women and children in filthy conditions.
Following an unannounced visit, the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General found "standing room only conditions" at the El Paso Del Norte Processing Centre.
It discovered a cell that was meant to hold a maximum of 12 housing 76 detainees.
Elsewhere one which was supposed to hold no more than eight had 41 detainees crammed in.
Another with a maximum capacity of 35 held 155 detainees, according to the report seen by CNN.
We also observed detainees standing on toilets in the cells to make room and gain breathing space, thus limiting access to the toilets
The overcrowding situation comes amid a dramatic escalation of Donald Trump’s battle to control a tide of illegal migrants that has increased despite his efforts to build a border wall.
The US President has vowed to impose a 5 per cent tariff on Mexico until illegal migrants stop crossing over the border — and threatened it could ratcheted higher every month until illicit crossings stop.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that yesterday border patrol agents detained more than 1,000 illegal migrants in El Paso — the largest group ever to be seized.
'DETAINEES WEARING SOILED CLOTHES FOR WEEKS'
But while Trump’s illegal migrant crackdown is underway, the inspectors report said: "(Customs and Border Protection) was struggling to maintain hygienic conditions in the holding cells.
“With limited access to showers and clean clothing, detainees were wearing soiled clothing for days or weeks.
"We also observed detainees standing on toilets in the cells to make room and gain breathing space, thus limiting access to the toilets.”
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The Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General concluded that the conditions urgently needed improving for the “immediate health and safety needs of detainees, who cannot continue to be held in standing-room-only conditions for weeks until additional tents are constructed”.
It also transpires that border patrol agents are worried, morale is suffering and there is a large number of staff off sick.
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