Vice President Mike Pence paid a visit to the McAllen Border Patrol Station in Texas on Friday, where 382 immigrant men are packed behind chain-linked fences under “sweltering hot” conditions.

Many of the men told reporters they had been there for 40 days or longer, saying that they were hungry and wanted to brush their teeth, according to the White House press pool.

The cages are so overcrowded that it would be impossible for the men to lay down all at once, and no mats or pillows are provided so the men sleep on bare concrete.

“I was not surprised by what I saw,” Pence said at a news conference. “I knew we’d see a system that was overwhelmed,” later adding, “This is tough stuff.”

According to a transcript, obtained by the New York Times, Pence defended the unsanitary conditions.

“And while we hear some Democrats in Washington, D.C., referring to U.S. Customs and Border facilities as ‘concentration camps,’ what we saw today was a facility that is providing care that every American would be proud of,” he said.

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The patrol agent in charge of the McAllen Station, Michael Banks, told the press pool that the longest a man has been held in the station was 32 days, and that men are allowed to brush their teeth once a day.

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They are also given deodorant after showering, however, many of the men have not showered for 10 to 20 days because the facility just received a trailer shower on Thursday.

One reporter noted that “the stench was horrendous” and some patrol agents wore face masks while guarding the cages.

Banks also told reporters that the facility was cleaned three times a day and was air-conditioned, though one reporter mentioned that it did not seem that way.

According to Banks, the men get three meals a day from local restaurants, along with juice and crackers.

The men are allowed to leave the cages to get water, however, were not permitted to do so when the press was there for the visit.

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