Migrant children endure "despair and isolation" inside tent city in the Texas desert

The level of distress among migrant boys and girls held by the U.S. government at a tent city in the Texas desert has become so alarming that they are constantly monitored for incidents of self-harm, panic attacks and escape attempts, people who worked at the federal site told CBS News.

Some children held at the large tent complex at the Fort Bliss U.S. Army base have required one-on-one supervision 24 hours a day to ensure they don't hurt themselves. Others have refused to eat or spend most of their days sleeping on cots. Workers said they saw migrant girls and boys with cut marks on their wrists and arms. Federal officials became so concerned about migrant teens harming themselves that they banned pencils, pens, scissors, nail clippers and regular toothbrushes inside tents housing hundreds of children, according to an internal document. Workers at the site said they were even instructed to remove the metal nose clips from N95 face masks.