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DILLEY, Texas – A new lawsuit alleges families living in cramped metal trailers while struggling to get food, water and adequate medical care at a Dilley immigrant detention center.

Their testimony was shared in documents filed by advocates earlier this month to prevent the Trump administration from terminating the Flores Settlement Agreement, a policy requiring immigrant children detained in federal custody to be held in safe and sanitary conditions.

The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley opened in 2015. It is the largest immigrant family detention center in the country.

According to the National Immigration Forum, the facility can detain up to 2,400 people. That amount is nearly four times as many beds as the only other family residential center, the Karnes County Civil Detention Center, approximately 95 miles away.

These two facilities are used to hold individuals while their immigration status is being processed or are awaiting deportation, according to the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement.

The Biden administration closed the facility last summer, citing high costs of operations, but the Trump administration resumed operations in March under private prison operator CoreCivic.

Multiple families claim to be living in metal trailers

In the lawsuit, several people gave their accounts of the conditions at the Dilley facility.

One person, in Exhibit 11 of the lawsuit, said they lived with multiple families in one trailer.

“We live in a trailer — it’s like a metal container — with six bunk beds,” the person said. “There are three families in my room — and I have all four of my kids.”

“It is so hot here (that) my kids cry and get dizzy,” the person continued. “We only have one pair of shorts each for the boys, and it’s too hot for the tracksuits they gave us.”

In family detention centers, fathers are also largely separated from the mothers and children.

In the court documents, the person said their spouse was only allowed to see their children from 8 to 11 a.m. and then again from 4 to 8 p.m.

According to the lawsuit, the person also testified that the children are not allowed to leave their side.

Families allege they were denied medical care

The same parent from Exhibit 11 of the lawsuit said their 8-year-old son broke his arm while the parent was in the bathroom because he had to wait alone outside the facility.

After the son was rushed to the medical area of the detention center, the doctor allegedly told the family they did not believe the child needed to go to the emergency room because “he was not crying.”

“The medical staff debated whether to take him to the ER for two hours as my son’s arm was getting more and more swollen,” the parent said, according to testimony in the lawsuit.

While at the ER, the parent said a doctor determined that the 8-year-old son’s arm “was definitely broken.”

Another parent, in Exhibit 8 of the lawsuit, described the detainment of their 6-year-old with leukemia.

“My son was supposed to have an appointment with the doctor today to see when he needs his next cancer treatment,” the parent testified. “He started treatment two years ago and is supposed to get about three more treatments.”

The parent said their son was receiving treatment approximately every three weeks but had not been since arriving in Dilley.

“I am worried that my son needs his next cancer treatment urgently,” the parent continued.

Multiple people also described poor mental health support while detained.

One 13-year-old, who testified in Exhibit 10 of the lawsuit, said they started to blame themselves for their family’s failure to pass the interview with ICE officials.

After having multiple nightmares, the teenager was told to use a breathing exercise and to drink warm milk.

“(The counselor) did not ask much about why I was feeling so bad or having nightmares,” the 13-year-old said, according to the lawsuit. “She never asked me if I had any thoughts about hurting myself.”

One parent said they had heard adults and children who attempted to take their own lives.

Another parent, who testified in Exhibit 7 of the lawsuit, said their 3-year-old son began purposely injuring himself due to conditions.

Parents say the food provided is not ‘kid-friendly’

Many parents in the lawsuit described the food provided in the facility as inadequate for children.

“The kids are hungry a lot because they don’t really eat the food,” one parent said, according to the Exhibit 11 portion of the lawsuit. “I have told them the food is horrible. They need more kid-friendly food.”

The mother said that some other options are available at the commissary, but she described the selection as unhealthy.

“My son has only eaten two days out of the 19 days,” one parent, in Exhibit 7 of the lawsuit, said.

Parent alleges tap water makes people ‘sick’

Multiple people testified that the water in living areas is known to be unsafe.

“We have been told that the water in the cafeteria is filtered and okay, but the staff told us water in the living areas is not good,” one person said, according to Exhibit 5 of the lawsuit.

One parent, in Exhibit 11 of the lawsuit, described their daughter experiencing diarrhea after being told to use tap water for her baby’s formula.

“They told me using tap water was fine, but now my baby is having horrible diarrhea,” the parent said, according to the lawsuit. “It has been going on for three days, and it is so bad it leaks out of her clothes.”

Allegations of limited legal resources to detainees

People testified in the documents that legal assistance is difficult to attain and maintain, if they can obtain a list of resources.

“There are numbers for lawyers on a list on the wall here, but none of the numbers work,” one person testified, according to the lawsuit. “I told one staff that the numbers don’t work and she said, ‘I don’t know if we are offering free lawyers anymore.’”

Others said that there is no legal counsel offered at all.

“My son has never been given a list of free legal counsel,” another person said. “I have not seen a list of legal counsel on the wall, but I got a number for lawyers from another resident.”

Many concluded their testimony by sharing their hopes for the future.

“My biggest goal is to have a home for me and my son, and give him everything I was not able to have,” another person said in the lawsuit.

Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.

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