Critics pan Ivanka Trump for posting photo with her son as migrant families are separated

Ivanka Trump's carefully curated social-media feeds - filled with glossy, ad-ready images of a perfect family and professional life - have yet again provoked critics of her father's administration.

On Sunday, they pounced when the first daughter/presidential adviser posted a photo on Twitter and Instagram that, under most circumstances, would produce nothing but "likes" and "#goals": It depicted the former fashion model wearing a breezy floral sundress, holding her youngest son in her arms. The little boy is wearing printed pajamas, his mother a tender smile, and the two are touching foreheads. She captioned it "My (heart emoji)."

View this post on Instagram

My ♥️

A post shared by Ivanka Trump (@ivankatrump) on May 27, 2018 at 9:07am PDT

But the sweet family moment wasn't shared under normal circumstances. Critics immediately jumped on the juxtaposition of the post with the news and images of migrant families being separated by immigration agents, with outrage growing over the United States losing track of almost 1500 children taken from their parents.

You’d almost never know her father’s administration, to which she is an adviser, was brutally separating migrant children from their asylum-seeking parents and lost track of 1,500 of them... https://t.co/sMQ2GWA2zY

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) May 27, 2018

MSNBC host Joy Reid responded quickly. "You'd almost never know her father's administration, to which she is an adviser, was brutally separating migrant children from their asylum-seeking parents and lost track of 1,500 of them ..." she tweeted.

Comedian and actor Patton Oswalt delivered a satire-dripping affirmation. "Isn't it the just the best to snuggle your little one - knowing exactly where they are, safe in your arms?" he wrote. "It's the best. The BEST. Right, Ivanka? Right?"

Isn't it the just the best to snuggle your little one -- knowing exactly where they are, safe in your arms? It's the best. The BEST. Right, Ivanka? Right? https://t.co/X79r8aWInc

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) May 27, 2018

In the last week, anger over the treatment of children at the US-Mexico border has reached a boil, with hashtags like #wherearethechildren circulating on social media. Rallies are being planned for this week, and the political fallout prompted US President Donald Trump to blame Democrats for his policies.

On the left, Olivia Caceres, a Salvadoran woman who entered the US to search for her 1-year-old son who was separated from his father by US border agents. On the right a mother spared from this pain by nothing more than the luck of her birth. #AbolishICE #WhereAreTheChildren pic.twitter.com/EYPSUCGkht

— Lipstick Leftist (@robinskyleigh) May 28, 2018

This is so unbelievably tone deaf, given that public outrage is growing over young kids being forcibly ripped from the arms of their parents at the border — a barbaric policy that Ivanka Trump is complicit in supporting. https://t.co/Hy1FVjLoZV

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) May 27, 2018

How would your Sunday be if the federal government ripped this child from your arms and put him in a detention facility? https://t.co/sn3t3vfB8j

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) May 27, 2018

Let's remember today that Gen. John Kelly, Trump's COS, when asked about what would be done with the kids separated from parents at the border said, “The children will be taken care of — put into foster care or whatever."
Whatever?#WhereAreTheChildren #MondayMotivation

— Mona (@Monaheart1229) May 28, 2018

It wasn't the first time one of Ivanka Trump's photos has prompted critics to accuse her of being tone deaf: Last year, she shared a snap of herself and husband/fellow White House adviser Jared Kushner, decked out in black-tie finery as they prepared to attend the exclusive Alfalfa Club's annual dinner, while protests over her father's ban on refugees erupted around the country.