'Wow, very sad': Melania Trump exclaims 'oh God' at seeing a photo of six-year-old Costa Rican boy who was abandoned in the Arizona desert with just a bottle of Coke and note reading 'I am looking for my mother'
- Melania Trump expressed sadness after hearing of boy found in the desert
- The six-year-old Costa Rican boy was reportedly abandoned by his uncle
- The first lady landed in Arizona Thursday to visit border patrol facilities
Melania Trump was visibly moved by the tale of a six-year-old Costa Rican boy found abandoned in the desert in Arizona.
US Border Patrol agents came across the boy on Tuesday, just north of the Mexican border, west of Lukeville, as he sat all alone by the side of the road.
The First Lady was shown pictures of the boy during a visit to a Customs and Border Patrol facility in Tucson, Arizona, on Thursday.
Rodolfo Karisch, Chief Patrol Agent of the Tucson Sector Border Patrol showed Mrs Trump a photo of the unnamed boy, telling her he had been dumped by his uncle with nothing but a bottle of Coke and a note.
'Oh God,' local news website AZ Central reported Mrs Trump as saying. 'It's incredible, as young as six years old, you know, someone would leave them. Wow, very sad.'
Rodolfo Karisch, Chief Patrol Agent of the Tucson Sector Border Patrol shows Mrs Trump a photo of the unnamed boy at a U.S. Customs and border and protection facility in Tucson
Despite the searing heat, the boy can be seen wearing jeans and a long-sleeved top in the photograph. Melania looks at the photo above
Abandoned: This is how U.S. Border Patrol found the six-year-old Costa Rican boy, abandoned in the Arizona desert
Note: The young boy was carrying this hand-written note saying 'I am looking for my mother'
Despite the searing heat, the boy can be seen wearing jeans and a long-sleeved top in the photograph.
The boy reportedly told agents he was on his way to see his mother in the US, and that his uncle had dropped him off without any food or water.
The note in his hand, written in Spanish, read: 'I am looking for my mother'.
'Oh God,' local news website AZ Central reported Mrs Trump as saying. 'It's incredible, as young as six years old, you know, someone would leave them. Wow, very sad'
During her visit to the Tucson facility, Mrs Trump held a roundtable discussion with Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Service and a local rancher
The boy, whose name had not been released, had been transported to a Tucson center for further processing, and is reportedly in good condition.
During her visit to the Tucson facility, Mrs Trump held a roundtable discussion with Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Service and a local rancher.
'I want to thank you for all your hard work. I know how difficult and dangerous your daily jobs are,' Melania Trump told agents. 'I am here to support you and help any way I can.'
Trip: US First Lady Melania Trump pictured before boarding a flight to Arizona on Thursday, where she visited immigration facilities
Melania Trump left Washington D.C. wearing expensive Christian Louboutin black flats and arrived in Arizona wearing $75 white Stan Smiths sneakers
More than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents at the border in recent weeks and some were placed in government-contracted shelters hundreds of miles away from their parents.
The president last week signed an executive order to halt the separation of families at the border, at least for a few weeks, but the order did not address the reunification of families already separated.
President Trump acknowledged one of the reasons he signed the order is that Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump spoke to him about it.
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered that thousands of migrant children and parents be reunited within 30 days - and sooner if the youngster is under 5. The order poses logistical problems for the administration, and it was unclear how it would meet the deadline.
Melania Trump's first stop of the day was in Tucson
Melania Trump tours a US Customs and Border Protection Facility in Tucson
A three your old and other juveniles are seen in a processing center of a U.S. Customs border and protection facility in Tucson
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