The border patrol agent who appeared in the infamous photo of the crying immigrant child told CBS News on Friday that the media narrative behind the photo is incorrect.
WATCH:
TIME Magazine put the image of the crying child on their cover with President Donald Trump staring down at her with the intention of representing the policy of separating families at the border, but the child in question was never actually separated from her mother.
“The photo might be a little misleading,” CBS News admitted before playing an interview they did with the border agent whose legs appear in the picture.
“We were patrolling the border, it was after 10 o’clock at night,” agent Carlos Ruiz explained. “We asked her to set the kid down in front of her, not away from her … and so we can properly search the mother. So, the kid immediately started crying as she set her down,” he continued. “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 and it’s 11 o’clock at night.”
“They’re using it to symbolize a policy and that was not the case on this picture,” he continued. “It took less than two minutes, as soon as the search was finished she immediately picked the girl up and the girl immediately stopped crying.”