Melania Trump returns to border state amid separation outcry

PHOENIX — First lady Melania Trump made a second visit to a border state Thursday, meeting face to face with people directly affected by her husband's hard-line immigration policies. This time, she chose less controversial apparel than her last trip, which was overshadowed by a jacket.

“I'm here to support you and give my help, whatever I can” on “behalf of children and the families,” Mrs. Trump said as she sat down with officials at a U.S. Border Patrol facility in Tucson, Arizona, the first stop of her trip. She later traveled to Phoenix, where she visited a complex that is housing dozens of migrant children separated from their parents.

It was the first lady's second trip to a border state amid an ongoing outcry over President Donald Trump's nowsuspended policy of separating migrant children from their families when they cross the border illegally. Many were placed hundreds of miles away from one another and have been struggling to be reunited.

“She cares about children deeply and when the news started to hit, I think she was very concerned and wanted to make sure the kids are being well taken care of,” Mrs. Trump's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said on the flight to Arizona. “She doesn't like to see parents and kids separated.”

Mrs. Trump made the trip in a risk-averse ensemble of a black sweater and white slacks.

The first lady's first trip to the region, a week ago Thursday, had been overshadowed by a jacket she wore to and from the border town of Mcallen, Texas, that had a baffling message on the back: “I really don't care, do u?”

The choice ignited the internet and spawned a slew of memes about what the first lady, a former model, may have meant. Her spokeswoman said it was just a jacket, with no hidden message. But the first lady's husband undercut the no-message message by tweeting that she was saying she really doesn't care about the “fake news” media.