FIRST LADY SENDS MIXED MESSAGES ON BORDER VISIT
JACKET REFERS TO ‘FAKE NEWS MEDIA’ SAYS U.S. PRESIDENT
McALLEN, TEXAS• First Lady Melania Trump sought to help her husband recover from a political disaster, but her visit to immigrant children in a Texas border town on Thursday stirred controversy with her wardrobe choice.
Boarding a plane at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, photographers caught her wearing a jacket with stenciling on the back that read “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?”
The youthful jacket that sells for $39 at Zara sharply contrasts with the first lady’s typically bold, designer wardrobe. “It’s a jacket,” her spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said. “There was no hidden message.”
She wore a different pale yellow jacket when the plane landed in McAllen, Texas, for a visit to the Upbring New Hope Children’s Center, which houses 55 migrant children.
But Trump was seen wearing the coat again when she deplaned in Washington, after a stir on Twitter that provoked questions to Grisham. It was about 80 F at the base, according to the National Weather Service.
President Donald Trump says his wife was taking a dig at the news media. He said the slogan “refers to the Fake News Media,” adding, “Melania has learned how dishonest they are, and she truly no longer cares!”
Her unannounced visit came as the president continued an uncharacteristic retreat from a major policy. In a cabinet meeting at the White House, he said he had ordered the government to reunite families separated by U.S. officials under his “zero tolerance” policy toward illegal border crossings, a day after issuing an executive order to stop taking children from their parents. More than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents over the past several weeks
The first lady proposed the idea for the trip herself, her spokeswoman said, out of concern over how her husband’s policies were affecting families apprehended crossing the border illegally.
“She wanted to see everything for herself,” Grisham told reporters travelling with her. “The images struck her as a mother, as a human being.”
She chatted with teenagers at the New Hope Children’s Shelter, run by Lutheran Social Services of the South under a grant from the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, and discussed the center’s operations with its staff.
“I’m here to learn about your facility,” she said. “I also like to ask you how I can help to be sure these children reunite with their families as quickly as possible.”
Back in Washington, it was day of confusion and conflicting reports as the Trump administration began drawing up plans to house as many as 20,000 migrants on U.S. military bases. But it was not immediately clear whether those beds would be for children or for entire families.
At the same time, the Justice Department went to court in an attempt to overturn a decades-old settlement that limits to 20 days the amount of time migrant children can be locked up with their families.
And in the Texas border city of McAllen, federal prosecutors unexpectedly did not pursue charges against 17 immigrants. A federal prosecutor said “there was no prosecution sought” in light of Trump’s executive order ending the practice of separating families.
It was unclear whether that meant the Trump administration was dropping its monthsold “zero tolerance” policy. The president did not answer the question directly but showed no sign of softening.
“We have to be very, very strong on the border. If we don’t do it, you will be inundated with people and you really won’t have a country,” Trump said.
It’s still not clear what will happen to the children already separated from their parents and where the government will house all the newly detained migrants, with the system already bursting at the seams.
Officials from the Defence Department and Health and Human Services said the Pentagon has agreed to provide space on military bases to hold up to 20,000 people detained after illegally crossing the Mexican border.
Congress, meanwhile, made little progress on a solution. The House killed a hard-right immigration bill Thursday and Republican leaders delayed a planned vote on a compromise GOP package.