Crying girl in viral photo was not taken from mom
Revelation stirs White House to blast Dems, media
Father, U.S. Border Patrol confirm that girl and her mother in widely circulated photo were not separated at a border checkpoint in Texas.
The widely shared photo of the little girl crying as a U.S. Border Patrol agent patted down her mother became a symbol of the families pulled apart by the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy at the border.
But the girl’s father said that his child and her mother were not separated, and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed that the family was not separated while in the agency’s custody.
Border Patrol agent Carlos Ruiz, who was among the first to encounter the mother and her daughter at the border in Texas, told CBS News that the image had been used to symbolize a policy but “that was not the case in this picture.”
Ruiz said the agents asked the mother, Sandra Sanchez, to put down her daughter, nearly 2-year-old Yanela, so they could search her. Agents patted down the mother for less than two minutes, and she immediately picked up her daughter, who then stopped crying.
“I personally went up to the mother and asked her, ‘Are you doing OK? Is the kid OK?’ and she said, ‘Yes. She’s tired and thirsty. It’s 11 o’clock at night,” Ruiz told CBS News.
The revelation has prompted a round of media criticism from the White House and other conservatives.
“It’s shameful that dems and the media exploited this photo of a little girl to push their agenda,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted Friday. “She was not separated from her mom. The separation here is from the facts.”
The heart-wrenching image, captured by awardwinning photographer John Moore, was spread across the front pages of international newspapers. It was used to promote a Facebook fundraiser that has collected more than $18 million to help reunite separated families.
And Thursday, hours before the girl’s father spoke out, Time magazine released its July 2 cover using the child’s image — without the mother — in a photo illustration that shows her looking up at President Donald Trump, who is seen towering above her.
“Welcome to America,” the cover reads.
Time has not responded to a request for comment, but the magazine, in a statement sent to media outlets, said it stands by the cover.
Time also has added a correction to a piece about the photo that ran Tuesday: “The original version of this story misstated what happened to the girl in the photo after she (was) taken from the scene. The girl was not carried away screaming by U.S. Border Patrol agents; her mother picked her up and the two were taken away together.”
At first, not much was known about the mother and daughter or what happened to them.
In Honduras, Denis Javier Varela Hernandez recognized his daughter in the photo and also feared that she was separated from her mother.
But he said he learned this week that his 32-yearold wife and daughter were detained together at a facility in McAllen, Texas.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said Sanchez was arrested June 12 by the U.S. Border Patrol near Hidalgo, Texas, while traveling with a family member. She was transferred to ICE custody June 17 and is being housed at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.
ICE said Sanchez was previously deported to Honduras in July 2013.
As news emerged that the mother and child were not separated, conservative media jumped on the story, portraying it as evidence of “fake news” surrounding the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Varela pushed back against the portrayals of his daughter’s story, saying it should not cast doubt on the “human rights violations” taking place.
“This is the case for my daughter, but it is not the case for 2,000 children that were separated from their parents,” Varela said.