First Lady Melania Trump Makes Second Migrant-Crisis Visit, This Time Without an Offensive Jacket

First Lady Melania Trump made her second visit in two weeks to a center holding migrant children. After last week’s visit to Texas’ Upbring New Hope Children’s Center, a shelter that provides care for unaccompanied refugees ages 6 through 17, the first lady today touched down in Arizona to tour a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facility.

While last week’s visit introduced Mrs. Trump to the housing conditions of children who arrived at the U.S. border for other countries without a parent or guardian, this week’s visit is reportedly the first time the first lady has seen a facility that receives children and families immediately after they are detained while trying to cross the border. For the past seven weeks, the Trump administration has enforced a “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which forcibly separated children from their parents at the border. DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen cited concerns for the children’s safety as a motivating factor while Attorney General Jeff Sessions characterized the action as a deterrent to illegal immigration. Nielsen also conceded that there is a backlog of roughly 600,000 asylum seekers attempting to enter the U.S. legally at designated points of entry, a problem that complicates and potentially imperils children and families.

After mounting public pressure, President Trump signed an executive order reversing his administration’s separation policy. Said order, however, did not outline an plan for family reunification and allows the government to detain intact families indefinitely.

The door to a family unit at the U.S. Border Control facility in Tuscon, Arizona.

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Mrs. Trump held a roundtable with U.S. Border Control officials, at which the officials stressed the dangerous conditions faced by migrants attempting to gain entry into the United States through illegal border crossing.

During her visit to the Texas facility last week, the first lady provoked outraged by wearing a Zara coat that read “I Don’t Really Care Do U?” on the back while boarding and deplaning in Maryland and continued to wear it at the White House lated that day.

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While it is not customary to comment on the first lady’s attire in situations such as this, it is notable that she did not wear any clothing with overt messaging for this visit.

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