If this image doesn’t change Trump’s immigration policy, what will?
This photo of a father and daughter, who drowned trying to reach the US last week, shocked the world. But what happens next, asks Rosa Prince…
The bodies of a father and his toddler daughter lie face down amid discarded beer cans, drowned as they sought a better life in the United States.
It is an horrific, haunting image – and one that begs a question perhaps more disturbing than the photograph itself: shocking as it is to see their lifeless bodies, will the deaths of Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and 23-month-old Valeria actually do anything to halt the spiralling tragedy unfolding at the Us-mexican border?
Twenty-five-year-old pizza chef Oscar and his wife, Tania, 21, were fleeing poverty in their home country of El Salvador when they reached the Mexican border city of Matamoros. On being told that the bridge into Texas was closed, the couple decided instead to swim across the Rio Grande.
Oscar put little Valeria on his back, tucking her under his T-shirt so she would not fall off. She was still there when the fast-moving current swept the pair away. Tania turned back to the Mexican side of the river, where Oscar and Valeria were found a few hours later.
Their bodies, Valeria’s arm around her father’s shoulders, were captured in a set of images taken by photojournalist Julia Le Duc. She said, ‘You could see the father had put her inside his T-shirt so the current wouldn’t pull her away.’ The appalling image was met with revulsion, with leaders such as Pope Francis expressing his ‘immense sadness’, although others questioned whether the image should even have been published. That’s a conversation we also had at Grazia, before deciding to print it in the hope that it helps galvanize lawmakers to action.
Indeed, the photo was raised in Congress, where Texas Democrat Joaquin Castro suggested it could provide as much of a wake-up call as the 2015 picture of the three-year-old drowned Syrian boy Alan Kurdi, which highlighted the plight of refugees risking their lives to cross into Europe from Africa and the Middle East.
The image of Alan lying lifeless on a Turkish beach prompted an international outcry. Since then, however, another 10,000 migrants have died seeking refuge in Europe by sea. And for all the distress at Oscar and Valeria’s fate, there are fears their loss may have just as few lasting consequences.
Still, Fernando Garcia, director of the Texas-based Border Network for Human Rights, sees the photo as a turning point in the immigration debate, commenting, ‘People have become numbers... As sad as it is, I think we need to show the photo.’
Oscar’s mother, Rosa Ramirez, also came out last week to say that she found some solace in the reaction the picture has prompted – as well as knowing that ‘they died in each other’s arms’.
The tragedy comes amid heightened hostility towards migrants seeking entry to the US. As part of its crackdown on illegal immigration, the Trump administration has moved to criminalise refugee families, separating parents and children at the border. Despite a court order last year requiring families to be reunited, hundreds remain in government shelters.
Facilities for children in Texas are described as filthy, overcrowded and inhumane, with youngsters forced to sleep on concrete benches and older teenagers caring for toddlers who may be strangers to them. The US government recently went to court to argue it should not be required to provide such basics as toothbrushes and soap. The day after Oscar and Valeria drowned, Commissioner John Sanders resigned as acting head of US Customs and Border Protection amid growing uproar over the treatment of children at the border.
But despite the harsh conditions awaiting them, the tide of desperate families fleeing poverty and violence in Central and South America shows no sign of slowing. Amid all the outrage at their deaths, it seems unlikely the Ramirez family will be the last to risk their lives crossing the Rio Grande.
Reflecting on the photo she took, Julia added, ‘Will it change anything? It should. These families have nothing, and they are risking everything for a better life. If scenes like this don’t make us think again – if they don’t move our decision-makers – then our society is in a bad way.’