Culture

Melania Trump Wears “I Really Don’t Care” Jacket on Route to Visit Immigrant Children at the Border

Lead Photo: U.S. first lady Melania Trump boards an Air Force plane before traveling to Texas to visit facilities that house and care for children taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
U.S. first lady Melania Trump boards an Air Force plane before traveling to Texas to visit facilities that house and care for children taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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Melania Trump regularly makes statements with her clothing, and on Thursday she sent a vile message to the country – whether intentionally or not. When boarding an Air Force plane headed to the border to visit immigrant children separated from their parents, the first lady wore a Zara jacket with the words “I really don’t care, do you?” emblazoned on the back. The visit to Texas comes a day after her husband, President Donald Trump, signed an executive order to stop splitting up families entering the country without documentation. As activists protest the order – which doesn’t include concrete steps to reunite the more than 2,000 families already separated and will push for the indefinite detention of families – the choice of jacket seems like an extension of the administration’s callous attitudes.

RELATED: Trump’s Executive Order to End Family Separation Isn’t a Victory

People have used social media to call out Melania’s tone deaf outfit choice (though she did change into a different jacket once at the border). Given the backlash, her team has already responded, denying that the jacket had any significant meaning. “It’s a jacket,” Stephanie Grisham, her spokeswoman, reportedly said. “There was no hidden message. After today’s important visit to Texas, I hope this isn’t what the media is going to choose to focus on.”

But at a time when the Trumps haven’t made public statements against the “zero-tolerance” policy, these words are hard to ignore.