First lady Melania Trump makes a surprise humanitarian visit to a Texas children’s shelter.
First lady’s stop comes a day after immigrant family separations end
McALLEN — Melania Trump visited with migrant children Thursday during a brief stop at a Texas facility housing some of the youth separated from their parents as her husband’s administration prosecutes adults who enter the U.S. illegally from Mexico.
The first lady, who has a 12-yearold son, smiled and laughed with the migrant children. “Be kind and nice to each other, OK,” she said as she left one classroom at Upbring New Hope Children’s Center and headed for another.
Plans for her to visit a second facility where children housed in cages were seen by the Associated Press last week were canceled because of flooding there.
The first lady’s stop in McAllen came one day after President Donald Trump ordered a halt, at least for now, to the separation of immigrant families who are detained at the border.
Her visit to the one-story, red brick building was quickly arranged after Mrs. Trump decided earlier this week that she wanted to go, her spokeswoman said, adding that she wanted to lend support to children who have been separated from their parents. The facility housed 55 boys and girls, ages 12-17, on Thursday, but only about six of them had been separated from parents, officials said. The other children were placed there after they crossed into the U.S. alone.
“I’m here to learn about your facility,” the first lady said as she met with staff and federal health and border patrol officials. She asked how she could help “these children to reunite with their families as quickly as possible” and how often they communicate with their families. She learned the children are allowed a 10-minute phone call twice a week.
Students welcomed her with a large paper American flag taped to a wall that they’d signed. The words, “Welcome! First Lady” were written in black marker across the red and white bars. Mrs. Trump, herself an immigrant from Slovenia, signed the flag and gifted it back to the center.
She visited three classrooms, each time asking the children where they came from, their ages, how long they’d been at the center and their favorite subjects. Staff said the children, who are mostly from Guatemala, typically spend between 42 and 45 days at the facility, which is operated by a Lutheran social services organization contracted by the government.
Mrs. Trump left Washington wearing a green, hooded military jacket that had “I really don’t care, do u?” written in graffiti-style on the back in white lettering that left the blogosphere wondering what message she was trying to send as she flew off to visit migrant children.
Asked about the message, spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said by email that it was just a jacket.
“There was no hidden message. After today’s important visit to Texas, I hope the media isn’t going to choose to focus on her wardrobe.” Grisham underscored that message with a tweet and the hashtags #SheCares and #ItsJustAJacket.
Mrs. Trump had changed into a pale yellow jacket before arriving in McAllen and wore that during the more than hour-long visit to the center, but donned the green jacket once again as she returned to the White House. She went straight to the Oval Office to brief the president, who later tweeted that the jacket’s message referred to her feelings about the “Fake News Media.”
Mrs. Trump reached her decision to make Thursday’s trip before the president’s executive order to keep families together was in the works.
“She told her staff she wanted to go and we made that happen,” Grisham said. “She told him `I am headed down to Texas’ and he was supportive.”