Crying toddler at US border ‘was not separated from her mother’

An image of a crying toddler that became the face of the campaign to end the separation of immigrant families has been dubbed “exploitative” after it emerged she was not taken away from her mother.

The picture of the crying two-year-old Honduran girl, wearing a pink jacket, was shared globally and sparked widespread condemnation of the way the United States treated illegal immigrants.

After pressure from other world leaders, and from his own wife and daughter, President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending the forceful separation of children and parents at the US-Mexico border.

But it has emerged that the little girl in the picture, Yanela Denis, was not one of the thousands of children who were taken from their parents at the border and was instead detained with her mother.

The photo was taken by Getty photographer John Moore on June 12, who said moments before the picture was taken the mother, Sarah Sanchez, had been breastfeeding her child.

Mr Moore said they were both taken away by border patrol and he did not know what had happened next.

The caption on the picture said the detention could lead to possible separation, not that this had occurred.

Dozens of newspapers and magazines including Time and the Washington Post published the image.

It helped swell outrage at home and abroad that pushed President Trump to back down on his administration's policy.

And was used to front a campaign which raised millions of dollars to help families be reunited.

But on Friday, 22 White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the mother and child had not been separated and accused Democrats and the media of exploiting the picture.

"It’s shameful that dems and the media exploited this photo of a little girl to push their agenda. She was not separated from her mom.

“The separation here is from the facts. Dems should join POTUS (the president) and fix our broken immigration system," she tweeted.

For its cover this week, titled "Welcome to America," Time magazine cropped the picture to show just the girl, juxtaposing it with a picture of Trump, as though he were looking down at her.

On Friday, Time published a correction saying: "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 US Border Patrol agents; her mother picked her up and the two were taken away together."

Border Patrol agent Carlos Ruiz, who stopped the two, told Reuters that the child had been put down so she could be searched.

"The kid immediately started crying as she set her down," he said. "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.'"

In Honduras, the child’s father Denis Valera his daughter and her mother, Sandra Sanchez, were detained together in McAllen, where Sanchez has applied for asylum, and they were not separated.

But he said: "My daughter has become a symbol of the ... separation of children at the US border.”

Honduras' deputy foreign minister, Nelly Jerez, confirmed Valera's version of events.

Trump persistently accuses Democrats of being weak on immigration. He said in a tweet on Friday that "We cannot allow our Country to be overrun by illegal immigrants as the Democrats tell their phony stories of sadness and grief, hoping it will help them in the (November) elections."

It was not clear if he was referring to the photo of the Honduran toddler.

Varela said Sanchez and her daughter had left Puerto Cortes, a Honduran port north of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, without telling him or the couple's three other children.

Approximately 2,300 children were separated from their parents at the border since Mr Trump introduced his “zero tolerance” policy.