An internal U.S. government review warned in May that conditions at a migrant holding facility in El Paso, Texas, were bad enough that agents there felt compelled to arm themselves in anticipation of a possible riot.

NBC News obtained a copy of the report , authored by the Department of Homeland Securitys Office of Inspector General regarding the findings of a site visit at the El Paso facility on May 7.

The report sharply undercuts the Trump administrations dismissal of reports of poor conditions on the border which some experts have recognized as concentration camps as unsubstantiated.

While a DHS official told NBC that Border Patrol agents typically secure their firearms in a lockbox when they enter a holding area, those at the El Paso facility were no longer doing so because they feared the conditions could result in volatile situations (riots, etc.).

When inspectors visited on May 7, a total of 756 immigrants were being detained at the facility, half of them in a parking lot outside. The facility has an official maximum capacity of 123.

In the outside parking lot, the report found detainees were being held for processing in areas that did not have heating, cooling, shade, or flooring.