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TIME Magazine's Big Mistake: Girl on TIME's cover never separated from parents

There is controversy over a TIME Magazine cover showing a crying toddler superimposed next an image of President Trump.

SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) – There is controversy over a TIME Magazine cover showing a crying toddler superimposed next an image of President Trump.

TIME created the image in response to families being separated at the border, but critics said the image is misleading.

"When I took this picture, I knew it would be important. I had no way of knowing that it would touch people quite on the level that it has,” said Getty Photographer, John Moore. Moore took the picture that is now on the cover of TIME Magazine and the poster for the immigration debate.

"Oftentimes, immigration is talked about in terms of statistics -- and when you put a human face and humanize an issue, you make people feel,” said Moore.

Moore spent nine hours with Border Patrol agent Carlos Ruiz. “We were patrolling the border. It was after 10 o’clock at night,” said

Ruiz tracked Sandra Sanchez and the group she was with as they crossed illegally into the U.S. though the Rio Grande Valley on June 10th.

"We asked her to set the kid down in front of her, not away from her, she was right in front of her...So we can properly search the mother," Border Patrol agent Carlos Ruiz described. "So the kid immediately started crying as she set her down. 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. It's 11 o'clock at night.'"

Border Patrol said Sanchez and her daughter were never separated. Instead, they remained together for three days before being turned out to Health and Human Services.

TIME Magazine issued a correction saying: “The original version of this story misstated what happened to the girl in the photo after she taken from the scene. The girl was not carried away screaming by U.S. Border Patrol agents; her mother picked her up and the two were taken away together.”

Still, a viral Facebook campaign is using the image under the headline “reunite an immigrant parent with their child.” Nearly 500,000 people have donated almost $19 million to the non-profit immigration legal services-provider, Raices.

Photographer Moore said he is happy with the TIME cover and response to the image.

After HHS took custody of the mother and daughter, they were impossible to track down.

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