Where are the beds?

One child stopped eating and fell into a depression. Another who could previously walk on his own now asks his mother to carry him everywhere. A third child started biting other children.

These are the experiences of children who have spent just three weeks at a temporary family immigration detention at the South Texas Family Detention Center in Dilley, Texas, attorneys and volunteers who work at the center told Reuters.

The Dilley site is one of only three in the United States designed to hold parents and children together in immigration detention. Some of those who have visited the center say such cases illustrate the emotional problems that can arise from holding families in detention.

“No child or family unit with a child should ever be in detention,” said Alan Shapiro, co-founder of Terra Firma, which promotes immigrant children's health. He said he has seen children at several facilities show developmental delays and become anxious and withdrawn.

Holding families indefinitely could create a new logistical headache for the Trump administration. Immigrant families are currently housed in facilities in Pennsylvania and Texas that have a total capacity of about 3,300 beds, according to ICE. Those are now at 79 percent capacity, ICE said.

Meanwhile, Melania Trump made a surprise trip to the US-Mexican border on Thursday as her husband's administration seeks to quell a firestorm over migrant family separations, reported AFP.

The UN yesterday acknowledged Washington's decision to stop separating migrant families at the US-Mexico border but insisted that detaining children with their parents was not the solution.