US-Mexico migration crisis: can shocking photograph trigger policy change?

Image of drowned migrant father and toddler
daughter provokes widespread anger

In Depth

Oscar Alberto Ramirez drowned in the Rio Grande on Sunday along
with his daughter Valeria, who would have turned two in a month, as
the child’s mother, Tania, watched helplessly from the
bank.

The family, from El Salvador, were trying to cross the river to
start a new life in the US. According to CNN, Mexican newspaper La Jornada (Spanish language) says they had been given
a humanitarian visa by the Mexican government to enter Mexico.

CNN reports that Ramirez managed to get his daughter safely
across the river, leaving his wife on the Mexican side. When he
returned to the water to help his wife cross, Valeria jumped in
after him. He tried to save her, says the broadcaster, but the pair
drowned.

Their bodies were found near Matamoros, on the Mexican side of
the Rio Grande, just over the water from the Texan city of
Brownsville. Photographer Julia Le Duc captured the pair lying dead
in the river on Monday, says US political site The Hill.

The horrifying image shows father and daughter lying face down
in the murky water, their heads covered by Ramirez’s T-shirt.

What has the reaction been?

Immigration is a divisive topic in the US, largely because
President Donald Trump has chosen to make opposition to it a
keystone of his presidency. He pledged to build a wall on the
US-Mexico border to keep would-be immigrants out and claimed that
many were “rapists”.

Earlier this month, Trump used the threat of imposing tariffs on
Mexican imports as leverage to try to force Mexico to prevent
migrants making the trek across Mexico to the US.

Most recently, holding centres for immigrants in the US have
been compared controversially to concentration camps.

What difference will this photograph make?

According to The Hill, the image has already sparked “viral
outrage… from a number of journalists and activists” and caused a
“backlash across social media”. CNN says that “presidential
candidates”, specifically, have been vocal about the
photograph.

Democratic presidential wannabe Kamala Harris wrote: “These
families seeking asylum are often fleeing extreme violence…
Children are dying. This is a stain on our moral conscience.”

Another Democratic candidate, Beto O’Rourke, wrote: “Trump is
responsible for these deaths. As his administration refuses to
follow our laws… they cause families to cross between ports,
ensuring greater suffering and death.”

Asked about the image yesterday, Mexican President Andres
Obrador said it was “very regrettable that this would happen”,
reports The Hill. He added: “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.”

Who was Alan Kurdi?

Alan Kurdi was a three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned while
trying to escape the civil war to safety in Europe. His body washed
up on a beach in Turkey and a photograph of it sparked renewed
debate about Europe’s responsibility to asylum seekers in the late
summer of 2015.

One year after his death, the BBC asked if the image had really changed
anything. The broadcaster noted that several Western governments
had announced policy shifts after the image went viral,
significantly Germany, where half a million refugees were taken in
in 2016.

However, Alan’s aunt Tima told the BBC she did not believe his
death made a lasting difference. She said: “The sad part is it was
only the first few months probably and then everybody went back to
business.”