GEOFF BENNETT: Food contaminated with worms and mold, limited access to clean drinking water, inadequate medical care, these are a few of the allegations made by migrant families in recent court documents about their children's conditions while in ICE custody.

As part of this administration's crackdown on immigration, President Trump has restored the practice of family detention, with more than 1,700 children in custody since family detention centers reopened this past spring.

Becky Wolozin is a senior lawyer with the National Center for Youth Law and joins us now.

Thanks for being here.

BECKY WOLOZIN, Senior Attorney, National Center for Youth Law: Thanks so much for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: President Trump says the border is effectively closed.

If that's the case, how are these children and families still ending up in custody?

Who are they?

BECKY WOLOZIN: So we have seen a lot of different trends happen since they first opened - - reopened family detention in April.

But now a lot of families are being arrested from the interior of the United States.

So these are your neighbors, your friends, your kids' friends who are being picked up in a lot of different ways, really from across the country.

GEOFF BENNETT: And you have been inside the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, where families are being held.

Your organization has sued the federal government, alleging inadequate food, medical care, education and safety.

What are the most striking examples you witnessed that illustrate those failures?

BECKY WOLOZIN: Well, there are really profound problems with basic needs, like food and water.

So we have seen and heard a lot of things about children not getting child-friendly food, not being able to eat what's offered.

As you mentioned, people reported vegetables that were moldy or had worms in them.

People have gotten sick following meals.

And there's really not food that's appropriate for small children.

So, for example, one mother told us that in order to try and get her child to eat anything, she had to suck the sauce off each piece of pasta to try and get him to just eat some kind of plain meal that's not the Teddy Grahams and juice that's available.

GEOFF BENNETT: For our viewers who might be unfamiliar, what are the minimum legal standards required when the government detains children and families?

BECKY WOLOZIN: So, under the Flores Settlement Agreement, there are some basic requirements for detaining children.

And those are based on the settlement when it was created in the '90s.

And so children have a right to safe and sanitary conditions, and they have a right to be treated with a particular attention to their unique vulnerabilities as minors.

That's the Flores Settlement Agreement.

There are, of course, other requirements and constitutional requirements in terms of detaining anybody, including children.

But Flores sets a very basic floor on the conditions.

GEOFF BENNETT: And how do the current conditions compare with previous administrations?

Is this a longstanding problem, or is this specific to the Trump administration?

BECKY WOLOZIN: Family detention was not being used for many years before it began again in April.

And so, in previous iterations, there were very similar conditions, issues.

And one of the biggest problems is that, in 1997, the standards were what the consensus was around child welfare at that time.

And now we understand and know so much more.

And we know that the detention of children of any kind is really harmful.

And so what we see is that, as kids are in these prolonged, restrictive settings, they really begin to deteriorate.

They have regressions in behavior.

One mother explained that her previously happy toddler was starting to hit her and hit himself in the face because he was so distraught over the conditions in which they were living.

We have just seen otherwise really well adjusted kids really devolve into concerning just constant sadness, nightmares, crying every night.

One teenage boy described to me -- I mean, a big kid, he was maybe 16 or 17 -- that he cries every night when he goes to sleep in the detention center where he's held with his father.

I would say one other deeply, deeply concerning thing that we have seen in this iteration are -- is really concerning medical conditions.

So children are not getting the care that -- the medical care they need.

A lot of people are coming in with dangerous chronic medical issues that are not treated or are incorrectly treated.

For example, one child -- regular childhood illnesses become very dangerous in detention.

So one child had an earache that turned into such a severe infection that she experienced hearing loss, and she really wasn't treated for a long period of time.

And then, when she finally was treated, the antibiotics they gave her were extremely strong and caused her a lot of distress.

And so we see a lot of problems with just basic health, basic access to basic needs.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, on average, how long are these children and these families held in these conditions?

BECKY WOLOZIN: We have seen families being held for longer and longer periods of time.

And so, most recently, according to the data that we get, we have seen several, I would say dozens of families and children that were held for more than 80 days.

And so these kids are spending months in detention in these horrible conditions.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to the "News Hour"s multiple requests for a response to the allegations about the conditions at Dilley.

But in court documents filed last month, the administration wrote -- quote -- "ICE's actions exemplify a model of regulatory compliance and humane care."

How do you respond to that claim?

BECKY WOLOZIN: It's just not true.

They are not complying with the Flores Settlement Agreement.

They're holding children for extensive periods of time.

The conditions are not meeting those basic requirements, as mentioned, not just because of the food.

The water is problematic.

Often, the water containers have mold or algae in them around the facility.

The lights are on all night.

Children can't sleep.

There are constant interruptions.

They don't have access to school, which they admitted in their most recent filing.

And, in fact, there's so little to do there that it makes it all the more difficult for children to even cope with the situation in which they're being held.

GEOFF BENNETT: To what degree is this by design to get migrants to self-deport?

BECKY WOLOZIN: I think it's very evident that none of this is necessary to carry out immigration laws and policies, regardless of what they are.

Many of these families were arrested while complying with various different forms of immigration requirements.

And I think that makes it very clear that the goal is cruelty and the goal is to make people who came to the United States often seeking safety and security to flee the United States for the countries where they felt so endangered that they had to leave.

And I think we're seeing that many families really cannot tolerate the level of harm that is being imposed on them by the government and are in fact leaving.

GEOFF BENNETT: Becky Wolozin with the National Center for Youth Law, thanks for being here.

BECKY WOLOZIN: Thank you so much for having me.