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White House accuses Democrats of exploiting toddler photo as Time magazine corrects story

The picture of a Honduran toddler at the border - Getty Images North America
The picture of a Honduran toddler at the border - Getty Images North America

The White House seized on a photo of a Honduran toddler seen sobbing at the US-Mexico border, accusing Democrats of exploiting the picture.

The photograph, taken by Getty Images photographer John Moore at the scene of a border detention on June 12, became a powerful image in the media coverage of the separation of families.

Dozens of newspapers and magazines published the image and it helped raise $17 million in Facebook's biggest ever fundraiser.

The image was widely interpreted as showing the girl crying over being parted from her mother.

However, it later emered that the girl had not been separated from her mother.

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

In a correction Time magazine later said: "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."

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Friday: "It’s shameful that Democrats 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."   Denis Valera, her father in Honduras, said his one-year-old daughter Yelena was with her mother Sandra Sanchez in a detention centre in Texas.

He said his wife and daughter had left Honduras without his knowledge and made the trek to the US to seek asylum..

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

The photograph showed Ms Sanchez being patted down by a border guard at the side of a road near the Rio Grande as Yelena screamed.

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

Mr Moore had made clear in numerous media interviews that he did not know what had happened to the mother and daughter or whether they had been separated.