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In interview with MS Now, attorney Eric Lee describes horrific conditions at US immigrant detention centers

On Friday, detained immigrant families, including children, staged a protest inside the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, shouting “Let us out” from behind the facility’s walls. The demonstration reportedly erupted in response to conditions at the facility and the treatment of five-year-old Liam Ramos, who was detained along with his father after being seized by ICE agents in Minnesota  last week.

Immigration attorney Eric Lee was in the facility attempting to visit clients when the protest began. He was ordered to leave by guards. Lee represents the El Gamal family, which includes five children—two five-year-olds, a nine-year-old, a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old—who have been detained at Dilley for eight months, far exceeding the 20-day limit for child detention under the Flores settlement.

In this interview with MS Now aired Friday, Lee describes the conditions inside the facility—contaminated water, food containing bugs and dirt, denial of medical care—and recounts how one of his child clients nearly died of appendicitis after officials told him to “take a Tylenol and come back in three days.” He also reveals that adult detainees at other facilities have reported being beaten by guards who “wrap flannel around their fists” and take them “into the shower where there are no cameras.”

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