This photo of father and daughter drowned in the Rio Grande is heart-wrenching. So is their story.
The bodies of Salvadoran migrants Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez, 25, and his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria, were found Monday on the banks of the Rio Grande near Matamoros, in Mexico's Tamaulipas states. They are the latest migrants who died trying to reach the U.S. to seek asylum. Journalist Julia Le Duc captured the image of father and daughter, her arm "draped around his neck suggesting she clung to him in her final moments," The Associated Press notes. It appeared Monday in Mexico's La Jornada, and AP published it on Tuesday.
Here's their story, as recorded by La Duc from Ramírez's wife and confirmed to AP by his mother in El Salvador, Rosa Ramírez, and an unidentified Tamaulipas government official:
Ramírez and his wife and child left El Salvador on April 3 and arrived in Matamoros early Sunday, they went to the U.S. Consulate to request an asylum interview, then decided to seek asylum on the U.S. side, AP reports. Under a recently enacted "metering" policy, U.S. officials conduct about 40-45 asylum interviews a week, and there are 800 to 1,700 names on the waiting list.
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday the two deaths are "very regrettable," adding, "We have always denounced that as there is more rejection in the United States, there are people who lose their lives in the desert or crossing" the river. Mexico, under pressure from the U.S., has recently started taking and housing more asylum-seekers who successfully crossed into the U.S.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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