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Melania Trump visits detention centres after immigration uproar in a controversial jacket

MELANIA Trump’s bizarre slogan jacket stunned everyone. Now she’s been roasted by Stephen Colbert, as her trip to a children’s detention centre turned into social media memes.

AAP, AP and staff writers
6 min read
June 22, 2018 - 2:07PM
News Corp Australia Network
Trump changes his mind on US immigration

MELANIA Trump was making an important trip with purpose when she paid a remarkable visit to the children displaced by the country’s immigration crisis, showing a softer side than the hard line policies of her husband, US President Donald Trump.

But all of that seems lost now, after her seemingly good intention was overshadowed by her massive fashion faux pas in her choice of attire.

Arriving at Andrews Air Force Base in Baltimore, Mrs Trump sported a $52 Zara coat with graffiti-style writing on the back, which read, ‘I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO YOU?’

Her jacket stunned the world, and caught the eye of US comedian Stephen Colbert, who told his Late Show audience: “OK, this is what first ladies often do. You go to a troubled area, they see the children, they show that we care. You can’t mess that up.”

Then when he saw her jacket, he recalled: “Guess what?” he asked. “I spoke too soon.”

He couldn’t believe it was real. “We checked it so many times, because we thought, this has to be fake,” Colbert said.

That’s what they settled on?” he asked. “What was her first choice, a jacket that says, ‘WOMP WOMP?’”

Melania Trump’s jacket is causing uproar. Picture: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Melania Trump’s jacket is causing uproar. Picture: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Colbert said that Melania forgot “the most important piece of fashion advice: before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take off that jacket.”

He went on to say her attitude towards the day gave the impression she didn’t really care.

“Right. It’s definitely not hidden,” Colbert said. “It’s right on the back. And I’m going to guess this is one message she did not steal from Michelle Obama.”

“How many people would get fired for this at a normal White House,” he asked.

“One? Five? The entire executive branch? Because in the middle of the worst moral scandal in recent memory—so bad that her husband backed down for the first time in memory—people who were supposedly on her side let her get on a plane with a jacket that said, ‘I really don’t care, do u?’”

“For the record,” Colbert concluded in his address to viewers: “We do.”

SOCIAL MEDIA’S JACKETGATE MEMES

Social media went into a spin after Melania wore the jacket, with many posting their own messages on it as they targeted her for her poor choice of attire.

TRUMP’S CLAIM: IT WAS DELIBERATE

It immediately caused controversy in the US, with President Trump claiming the jacket was a stab at ‘Fake News Media’.

The First Lady’s director of communications, Stephanie Grisham, also addressed the outfit choice on Twitter: “Today’s visit w the children in Texas impacted @flotus greatly. If media would spend their time & energy on her actions & efforts to help kids — rather than speculate & focus on her wardrobe — we could get so much accomplished on behalf of children. #SheCares #ItsJustAJacket.”

But the statement has not convinced thousands of furious people, who have taken to social media to slam Melania as ‘insensitive’ for sporting the slogan at such a sensitive appearance.

The First Lady left the White House quietly on Thursday morning and flew to Texas for the unannounced visit, a day after Mr Trump signed an executive order keeping intact families who cross into the US illegally from Mexico.

Mr Trump reversed his tough stance on separating families after days of outrage over the policy from at home and abroad.

The first lady met with officials and employees at the facility, where 55 children aged 12 to 17 are housed. Six of them were separated from their parents upon crossing the border, authorities told reporters.

The jacket sported by Melania Trump. Picture: Zara
The jacket sported by Melania Trump. Picture: Zara
Maybe not the best choice for a visit to kids in a detention centre. Picture: AP
Maybe not the best choice for a visit to kids in a detention centre. Picture: AP

Mrs Trump sat alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar at a table at Upbring New Hope Children’s Centre and heard caregivers explain how the children are well treated. She asked many questions, seeking assurances that they are being properly cared for.

“I’m glad I’m here and I’m looking forward to seeing and meeting children, but first of all let me begin to recognise each of you and thanking you for all that you do, for your heroic work that you do every day and what you do for those children,” Mrs Trump said.

“I’d also like to ask you how I can help these children to reunite with their families as quickly as possible,” she said.

Later, she toured a section of the facility where the children have bedrooms and was told they maintain their own rooms.

The jacket was gone when she landed in Texas. Picture: AFP
The jacket was gone when she landed in Texas. Picture: AFP

She visited a schoolroom at Upbring and chatted with about 20 young girls and boys who had school folders on their desks. She spoke to many individually through a translator, and as she walked out she told them: “Be kind and nice to each other, OK? Nice to meet you.”

In one classroom, children were being taught about the American July Fourth Independence Day holiday. On the wall was a handpainted American flag and the children signed it. Mrs Trump signed it as well.

In signing the executive order he used to reverse the separation policy on Wednesday, Mr Trump cited his daughter and his wife.

“Ivanka feels very strongly, my wife feels very strongly about it, I feel very strongly about it. I think anybody with a heart would feel very strongly about it. We don’t like to see families separated,” Mr Trump said.

Melania Trump met with detained kids in Texas. Picture: Getty Images/AFP
Melania Trump met with detained kids in Texas. Picture: Getty Images/AFP

Earlier, Mr Trump spilt the beans about his wife’s trip to the border before it was announced, telling reporters during a Cabinet meeting: “My wife, our first lady, is down now at the border because it really bothered her to be looking at this and seeing it, as it bothered me, as it bothered everybody at this table. We’re all bothered by it.”

Ms Grisham said that the first lady had the full backing of her husband. “She told him ‘I am headed down to Texas’ and he was supportive.” Mrs. Trump, whose focus as first lady is on child wellbeing, appears to have been among those pushing her husband to act.

Grisham released a statement last weekend saying the first lady “hates” to see children separated from their families and “believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.”

Mrs Trump’s trip to Texas was cut short by heavy rain and flash flooding.

Melania Trump signed an American flag painted by detained immigrant children. Picture: AP
Melania Trump signed an American flag painted by detained immigrant children. Picture: AP

HOUSE REJECTS HARD-RIGHT IMMIGRATION BILL

It comes as the US House killed a hard-right immigration bill overnight, and Republican leaders delayed a planned vote on a compromise package with the party fiercely divided over an issue that has long confounded Republicans.

Donald Trump was not impressed after a hard-right immigration policy failed to make it through the House. Picture: AP
Donald Trump was not impressed after a hard-right immigration policy failed to make it through the House. Picture: AP

The conservative measure’s 231-193 defeat set the stage for debate on the second bill, this one crafted by Republican leaders in hopes of finding an accord between the party’s sparring moderate and conservative wings. That bill was considered too lenient by some conservatives and seemed likely to fall, too, and aides said the final roll call would wait until Friday.

Rejection of both would represent an embarrassment for Mr Trump, who had embraced them. The battle over immigration has been intensified by heartbreaking images of migrant children separated from families and complicated by opaque statements by Mr Trump.

At the White House, Trump defended his administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting all migrants caught illegally entering the country, a change that has caused thousands of families to be divided while the parents are detained. He said without it, “you would have a run on this country the likes of which nobody has ever seen.”

He said he was inviting Congress’ top two Democrats, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to the White House for immigration bargaining. He called them “extremist open-border Democrats”.

Melania Trump talked to doctors and social workers at a children’s detention centre in Texas. Picture: Getty Images/AFP
Melania Trump talked to doctors and social workers at a children’s detention centre in Texas. Picture: Getty Images/AFP

The rejected compromise bill would have granted no pathway to citizenship for young “Dreamers” who arrived in the country illegally as children, curbed legal immigration and bolstered border security.

The second was a compromise between Republican moderates and the party’s conservatives that included an opportunity for citizenship for the young immigrants. It provides $25 billion for Trump’s wall, restrictions on legal immigration and language requiring the Homeland Security Department to keep migrant families together while they’re being processed for illegal entry to the U.S. Democrats oppose both measures as harsh.

“It is not a compromise,” House Minority Leader, Democrat Nancy Pelosi told reporters. “It may be a compromise with the devil, but it is not a compromise with the Democrats.”

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/melania-trump-visits-border-detention-centres-after-immigration-uproar/news-story/6fb1c2185301f867183b026286400d0d