(WSVN) - The toddler’s photograph has spread throughout the world, showing the crying little girl sobbing as her mother was detained at the US-Mexico border. While the photo has become an iconic image about the separation of families, a man who claims he is the child’s father says she was not taken away from her mother.

“My daughter has become a symbol of the … separation of children at the U.S. border. She may have even touched President Trump’s heart,” Denis Valera told Reuters.

But Valera said the little girl and her mother, who he identified as Sandra Sanchez, have been detained together in McAllen, Texas, while applying for asylum.

Honduran deputy foreign minister Nelly Jerez confirmed Valera’s account.

The photo sparked outrage in the midst of media coverage about the Trump administration’s separation of families at the border, and the toddler’s image is featured on the cover of an upcoming issue of Time magazine.

Valera said he did not support his wife’s decision to leave, and said they have three other children together.

“I didn’t support it. I asked her, why? Why would she want to put our little girl through that?” Valera told the Daily Mail. “But it was her decision at the end of the day.”

He claims he did not know she was taking their two-year-old daughter until he saw the photo on the news.

“You can imagine how I felt when I saw that photo of my daughter. It broke my heart. It’s difficult as a father to see that, but I know now that they are not in danger. They are safer now than when they were making that journey to the border,” Valera said.

He told Reuters he believes his wife headed for the United States since she has family there.

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