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Crying migrant girl in famous photo was not taken from her mother, dad says

Click to play video: 'No plan to reunite migrant children with parents'
No plan to reunite migrant children with parents
WATCH ABOVE: There's confusion about how thousands of migrant children will be returned to their parents – Jun 21, 2018

TEGUCIGALPA – The Honduran toddler pictured sobbing in a pink jacket before U.S. President Donald Trump on an upcoming cover of Time magazine was not separated from her mother at the U.S. border, according to a man who says he is the girl’s father.

The powerful original photograph, taken at the scene of a border detention by Getty Images photographer John Moore, became one of the iconic images in the flurry of media coverage about the separation of families by the Trump administration. Dozens of newspapers and magazines around the globe published the picture, swelling the tide of outrage that pushed Trump to back down Wednesday and say families would no longer be separated.

At the time, Global News reported that the girl’s mother was being searched, not that they had been separated.

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“My daughter has become a symbol of the … separation of children at the U.S. border. She may have even touched President Trump’s heart,” Denis Valera told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Valera said the little girl and her mother, Sandra Sanchez, have been detained together in the Texas border town of McAllen, where Sanchez has applied for asylum, and they were not separated after being detained near the border.

A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 in McAllen, Texas.
A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 in McAllen, Texas. John Moore/Getty Images

Honduran deputy foreign minister Nelly Jerez confirmed Valera’s version of events.

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Varela said he was awestruck and pained when he first saw the photo of his crying daughter on TV. “Seeing what was happening to her in that moment breaks anyone’s heart,” he said.

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The photo was used on a Facebook fundraiser that drew more than $17 million in donations from close to half a million people for the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), a Texas-based nonprofit that provides legal defense services to immigrants and refugees.

The Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy had led to the separation of 2,342 children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border between May 5 and June 9.

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Video footage of separated children sitting in cages, an audiotape of wailing children and Moore’s photo had sparked worldwide anger over Trump’s immigration policies.

WATCH BELOW: Children sob after separation from parents at U.S.-Mexico border

Click to play video: 'Children sob after separation from parents at U.S.-Mexico border in leaked audio'
Children sob after separation from parents at U.S.-Mexico border in leaked audio

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

He said he imagined that Sanchez left with the little girl for the United States, where she has family, in search of better economic opportunities.

“If they are deported, that is OK as long as they do not leave the child without her mother,” Valera said. “I am waiting to see what happens with them.”

WATCH BELOW: Melania Trump’s jacket overshadows visit to migrant children in Texas

Click to play video: 'Melania Trump’s jacket overshadows visit to migrant children in Texas'
Melania Trump’s jacket overshadows visit to migrant children in Texas

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