Melania Trump has come under fire for posting what has been called a “tone deaf” tweet after hosting King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain at the White House on Tuesday.
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The first lady wrote that she and the queen enjoyed tea and chatted about ways they can “positively impact children.” Many, including some celebrities, found this to be a thoughtless tweet amid the public outcry from both sides of the U.S. political aisle over her husband’s adherence to an immigration policy that has seen thousands of children taken from their parents and placed in detention centres.
Critics took aim at her claims to “positively impact children,” and used it as fodder to call out the current administration for setting up what some have called “child concentration camps” and the first lady’s apparent inaction on the situation.
This is the second comment from the first lady on the immigration policy this week. On Sunday, she made a surprise statement, saying that the U.S. should “govern with heart.”
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“Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform,” communications director Stephanie Grisham said in a statement to CNN. “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.”
Many criticized the statement for seemingly laying the blame on the Democrats.
Meanwhile, Ivanka Trump has also come under fire for her silence on the issue. Although it is claimed that the first daughter and adviser to the president had a private talk with her father on Wednesday about the policy, she has not made any public statements, which many are criticizing considering she has based her own platform on advocating for women and children.
“She offered the president her support and she said she would talk to any member of Congress to help find a legislative solution to the issue,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told CNN.
Florida Republican representative, Carlos Curbelo, reiterated that the president had met with his daughter.
“He mentioned that his daughter Ivanka had encouraged him to end this, and he said he does recognize that it needs to end and the images are painful and he’s looking for a legislative solution. He discussed the optics and the policy itself, and I think he’s not comfortable with either.”
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After the meeting, Ivanka apparently called House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, allegedly to discuss the matter.
Earlier that day, Meghan McCain, a host on morning television show The View and daughter of U.S. Republican Senator John McCain, called out Ivanka for her silence.
“Where is Ivanka in all of this?” she asked. “She’s all for women and mothers, and she has a White House role. I’m sort of interested that her whole platform has been women and mothers, and she doesn’t seem to have anything to say about this.”