Guards at the Dilley detention center have confiscated children’s artwork, crayons and drawing supplies during recent room searches, according to former detainees and their advocates who say restrictions have intensified following media coverage of conditions at the facility.

Christian Hinojosa said she hid a manila envelope containing kids’ writings and artwork inside her winter jacket when eight to 10 guards searched her room at the immigrant detention center in Dilley, Texas, earlier this month. She planned to share the children’s letters with the outside world, according to her account.

“Thank God the weather was cool,” Hinojosa said, explaining that the jacket didn’t raise suspicions as guards lifted mattresses, opened drawers and rifled through papers.

Three other former detainees, along with lawyers and advocates in contact with families inside the facility, confirmed that guards have removed crayons, colored pencils and drawing paper during searches, according to interviews. They said guards also took artwork, including one child’s drawing of Bratz fashion dolls.

The detention center, described as America’s only facility for immigrant families, consists of trailers and dormitories located in brush country south of San Antonio.

Detainees and advocates said the restrictions increased after 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos arrived at Dilley on Jan. 22 wearing a blue bunny hat, sparking protests and congressional visits. They said the clampdown intensified as children and parents wrote letters to share with the public and reporters, and relatives recorded video calls with detainees.

One anonymous mother, whose immigration case remains pending, told reporters she watched through a window in late January as guards swept through her room, removing drawings from walls and placing colored pencils and crayons in plastic bags before confiscating them. Her three children witnessed the search, according to her account.

With limited schooling available at Dilley and cold weather keeping children indoors, drawing served as the kids’ main activity, the former detainee said. After the room inspection, she said the children “cried and cried and cried.”

“What were they going to do now?” she said, describing their boredom. “They were so bored.”

Former detainees and advocates also reported that families have lost access to Gmail and other Google services in the Dilley library, making it more difficult to contact lawyers and advocates. They said guards sometimes hover within earshot during detainees’ video calls to relatives and reporters.

CoreCivic, the private prison company operating the Dilley facility for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, denied the allegations in a written statement. The company said routine inspections of living facilities represent common practice and that detainees receive information about allowed items in their rooms.

“We vehemently deny any claims that our staff have confiscated or destroyed children’s personal artwork or their related supplies,” the statement reads. CoreCivic added that examples of kids’ artwork appear “proudly displayed” throughout the facility.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in a statement that “ICE is not destroying children’s letters.” However, the agency acknowledged that in one case “all the written items in the cell were seized” as part of an investigation involving a mother who DHS said refused to comply with a search and pushed a detention center employee.

The children’s stories, many told in their own words, have fueled public outcry over the scope of the Trump administration’s deportation campaign, which the president promised would focus on criminals.

This week, DHS issued press releases that it said were “correcting the record” about conditions at the facility.