Undocumented women separated from their children and imprisoned on the Texas border say they were forced to stand in the hot sun for hours so that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen would not have to hear their complaints while she secretly toured the facility, The Intercept reported.
Nielsen on Friday visited, among other such facilities, the Port Isabel Detention Center in Los Fresnos, which imprisons undocumented immigrants separated from their children.
However, before Nielsen entered the facility, dozens of detainees were ordered to go outside and held in a distant field for two hours in 90-degree temperatures, four women told The Intercept.
Three of the women were separated from their children and had wanted to appeal to Nielsen, but one of them said the guard told them they were not allowed to remain inside, "because some important officials were coming."
The women said they tried to shout from the soccer field when they saw the visitors arrive, but the field was too far way for the dignitaries to hear them.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed to The Intercept that Nielsen was at the facility Friday, but said the women were sent to the soccer field for "recreation."
The Splinter reported that the Department of Health and Human Services has announced that it will no longer disclose how many children they have in custody who have been forcibly separated from their undocumented parents.
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