In Clint, a farm town about 20 miles southeast of El Paso with fewer than 1,000 residents, there was consternation and dismay among residents at reports from lawyers who visited the border station recently, who said they found that children as young as 5 months old had been housed with filthy clothes, dirty diapers and inadequate food.

“Almost like a concentration camp,” said Juan Martinez, who works at the Pride Fitness gym in Clint and heard about what was happening atunsepa the nearby station from news reports. “I mean, they’re not killing them, but they’re treating them like animals. They need basic hygiene.”