Mother, crying child in iconic photo have family back home and no basis to claim asylum

The mother and child in that now-iconic photo of family separation not only weren’t separated, but their claims of asylum are also likely bogus, experts tell The Washington Times.

The woman, identified in news reports as Sandra Sanchez, was deported from the U.S. in 2013, which analysts said suggests her latest attempt to enter the U.S. is likely about illegal immigration rather than asylum.

Her decision to leave others of her children back home — recounted by the girl’s father, Denis Javier Varela Hernandez, to The Washington Post and Reuters last week — will also likely weigh on her chances, suggesting that she didn’t fear for them in their home country.

“If the children and her spouse are safe, and she felt comfortable leaving them home, it is arguable that the mother has no real fear of persecution,” said Matthew J. O’Brien, a former anti-fraud official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services who now works at the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

As the hysteria of the early days of the border child separation crisis fades, the stories of the parents and children are beginning to get more attention — and some of the stories are turning out not to be what they seemed at first blush...

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