Valera said the little girl and her mother, Sandra Sanchez, have been detained together in the Texas border town of McAllen, where Sanchez has applied for asylum, and they were not separated after being detained near the border.
Honduran deputy foreign minister Nelly Jerez confirmed Valera's version of events.
Varela said he was awestruck and pained when he first saw the photo of his crying daughter on TV. "Seeing what was happening to her in that moment breaks anyone's heart," he said.
The Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy had led to the separation of 2,342 children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border between May 5 and June 9.
Video footage of separated children sitting in cages, an audiotape of wailing children and Moore's photo had sparked worldwide anger over Trump's immigration policies.
Sanchez and her daughter had left Puerto Cortes, a major Honduran port north of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, without telling Valera or the couple's three other children, he said.
He said he imagined that Sanchez left with the little girl for the United States, where she has family, in search of better economic opportunities.
"If they are deported, that is OK as long as they do not leave the child without her mother," Valera said. "I am waiting to see what happens with them."
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