Melania Trump expressed alarm when she saw a photo of a young boy sat in the desert alone, carrying a note in Spanish that in English read “I am looking for my mother.”

Looking down at the photo she said softly “Oh God.” The six-year-old Costa Rican child was sitting in 38C degree heat in Arizona.

He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and jeans and grey athletic shoes. He had a large backpack and a coke bottle less than one-quarter full. The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said that it was the only drink he had and carried no food.

Mrs Trump was shown pictures of the boy during a visit to a CBP facility in Tucson, Arizona. In a call to CBP, a spokesperson for the border patrol confirmed to The Independent that the child was no longer in their custody, but would not release where he had been transferred, citing personal protection.

A group of protesters confronts Mitch McConnell and Elaine Chao about separating families at the border

Rodolfo Karisch, Chief Patrol Agent of the Tuscon Sector Border Patrol showed Mrs Trump a photo of the unnamed boy, having been left by his uncle with nothing but what he was carrying. According to the agency's press release, the boy was found June 19, just north of the US-Mexico border.

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“It’s incredible,” Mrs Trump said. “As young as six years old, you know, someone would leave them. Wow, very sad.”