• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • FAQ
  • Meet the Team
  • About TLE
  • Advertise
SUPPORT FREE INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News

The story behind the photo that shook the world. Will it change a thing?

The UN refugee agency today compared the photograph to the 2015 image of the three-year-old Syrian boy Alan Kurdi who drowned off the Greek island of Kos. But will it move enough hearts to change Trump’s hardline immigration measures?

Ben Gelblum by Ben Gelblum
June 26, 2019
in News, World News
The story behind the photo that shook the world. Will it change a thing?

The bodies of Salvadorian migrant Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his daughter Valeria are seen after they drowned in the Rio Bravo river while trying to reach the United States, in Matamoros, in Tamaulipas state, Mexico June 24, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

A harrowing photo of a man and his young daughter who drowned on the U.S.-Mexico border has brought global attention to the dangers for a wave of mostly Latin American migrants travelling north.

The picture of Oscar Alberto Martinez and his 24-month-old daughter Valeria who drowned in each others’ arms has broken hearts around the world and sparked renewed debate about the plight of refugees and migrants.

The pair had travelled from their home country of El Salvador and were seeking asylum in the United States when they drowned in front of Oscar’s wife, two shocking, yet perhaps preventable deaths.

As part of a broader crack down on migration, the Trump administration has tightened the US asylum system aggressively, creating a growing backlog of cases.

A Central American migrant is escorted into a van by National Migration Institute (INM) agents, after being detained at a checkpoint, on the outskirts of Tapachula, Mexico, May 19, 2019. Picture taken May 19, 2019. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

Families have been detained, separated, children have gone missing from their parents – both sides of the US/Mexico border and reports have emerged of the horrendous conditions in which they are detained.

Migrants are routinely forced to wait for months to start the asylum process; those who despair of waiting turn to more remote and dangerous routes across the southern frontier.

On Sunday, two babies, a toddler and a woman were found dead after succumbing to heat exhaustion, and a six-year-old was found dead in the searing heat of Arizona.

RelatedPosts

Committee approves articles of impeachment against Donald Trump

Wetherspoons boss £44m richer after election result

Lord Lloyd Webber wins tax fight over Barbados villas

NHS waiting list hits record high as more also wait longer in A&E

Three children and a woman from Honduras died in April after their raft capsized on the Rio Grande, where the record swell of water has claimed dozens of lives this year.

As photos, taken on Monday of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez, 26, and his daughter Valeria, lying face down in shallow water, the 23-month-old toddler’s arms clinging around her father’s neck broke hearts around the world, Democrats in the House were moved towards approving an emergency $4.5 billion humanitarian aid bill to address the plight of migrants at the border.

A nun delivers food to migrants next to Siglo XXI migration facility in Tapachula, Mexico, May 11, 2019. Picture taken May 11, 2019. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

The House voted 230-195, mostly along party lines.

Though characteristically bullish – throughout the crisis that he is using as a key dog-whistle of his 2020 presidential campaign – Donald Trump vowed to veto any extra spend on such relief.

Accounts from lawyers of children in detention wearing soiled clothes and older children caring for younger ones has increased criticism by immigration activists and Democrats of Republican President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies.

The acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, John Sanders, who led CBP since April, resigned on Tuesday.

Last week lawyers raised the alarm after finding over 300 migrant children in an overcrowded Texas border patrol station, where they said some had been held for weeks without adequate food and water.

From March 19 to date, the CBP has released 96,000 “family units” but still holds thousands of people in custody, CBP officials said.

Many Central American families who say they fear returning to their home countries seek asylum in the United States and are often released pending immigration court proceedings.

Cracking down on immigration has been a priority for Trump but the president has proven unable to push most of his goals through Congress.

“This week we have to solve the humanitarian crisis,” House of Representatives Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries told reporters.

Rosa Ramirez, mother of Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez, a migrant who drowned in the Rio Grande River with his daughter Valeria during their journey to the U.S., is pictured at her house in the Altavista neighbourhood in San Martin, El Salvador June 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas

The story behind the photo that shocked the world

The UN refugee agency today compared the photograph to the 2015 image of the three-year-old Syrian boy Alan Kurdi who drowned off the Greek island of Kos. But will it move enough hearts to change Trump’s hardline immigration measures?

The photo shows a father and toddler face down in the reeds on the bank of the Rio Grande river. The father had apparently stretched his T-shirt over her to form a makeshift baby sling, and their heads are nestled together. Her red shorts bulge with a water-logged nappy as she hugs her father.

The bodies of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez, 26, and his daughter Valeria were discovered on the muddy bank of the treacherous Rio Grande river swollen to its highest level in decades near Matamoros, Mexico, just half a mile out of reach of the US border.

According to local reports, Salvadorean Martínez Ramírez his wife, Vanessa Ávalos, and their two-year-old daughter, arrived in Matamoros on Sunday, to request asylum from US authorities.

But seeing the backlog before they could start the legal process and the humanitarian situation building up, they decided to attempt the risky river crossing.

“He crossed first with the little girl and he left her on the American side. Then he turned back to get his wife, but the girl went into the water after him. When he went to save her, the current took them both,” local journalist Julia Le Duc, told the Guardian newspaper.

Rosa Ramirez, mother of Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez, a migrant who drowned in the Rio Grande River with his daughter Valeria during their journey to the U.S., is pictured at her house in the Altavista neighbourhood in San Martin, El Salvador June 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas

@BenGelblum 

Tags: headline; US headline
Support free independent investigative journalismSupport free independent investigative journalismSupport free independent investigative journalism
Ben Gelblum

Ben Gelblum

Contributing & Investigations Editor & Director of Growth wears glasses and curly hair cool ideas to: ben.gelblum (at) thelondoneconomic.com @BenGelblum

Comments 4

  1. jimmyb says:
    6 months ago

    Hopefully it will change a thing.

    Hopefully the People of the West will wake up to this blatant and laughable propaganda, and will realise that the best thing for these people is to stay in their own countries.

    Not invade ours, with the help of our treasonous politicians.

    Reply
  2. lindsey lacey says:
    6 months ago

    heartbreaking

    Reply
  3. Miguel Denyer says:
    6 months ago

    Trump doesn’t have “hard line immigration policies” he is simply trying to enforce our existing immigration laws that prohibit ILLEGAL immigration… want to migrate to the USA? Do it the RIGHT way and there’s no issue – I know this because I migrated here from the UK… the RIGHT way. Exactly how does a photo of a kid that drowned off the coast of GREECE have anything to do with US immigration policy anyway?

    Reply
  4. Josiah says:
    6 months ago

    Sad waiting for a genuine immigration ,with Trumps poor immigrations policies caused this!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending fromTLE

  • All
  • trending
Jeremy Corbyn is the most smeared politician in history

Jeremy Corbyn is the most smeared politician in history

The story of how the Conservatives crippled the country

The British Government has ruined my life

SWNS Pictures of the Year 2015 - One hundred of the most compelling images on the SWNS wire this year as chosen by our picture editors. Refugees from Syria leave Glasgow Airport in five coaches in heavy rain, November 17, 2015, from where they will be dispersed to their new homes within Scotland. See SWNS story SWREFUGEE: The first charter flight carrying Syrian refugees arrived in the UK yesterday (Tues) as part of the Government's resettlement scheme. Around 100 people were transported by plane from refugee camps in the Middle East, travelling from Beirut in Lebanon to Glasgow Airport. Many have been described as vulnerable and some had stayed in camps for up to four years. Landing in Glasgow at 3.30pm yesterday afternoon, the first arrivals were expected to be resettled by local authorities across the country, including Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Lift The Ban petition reveals staggering cost to UK economy of asylum seekers being banned from working

Latest from TLE

National Lottery Results – Wednesday 3rd July 2019

EuroMillions results Friday 13th December 2019

thunder ball results

Thunder Ball Results Friday 13th December 2019

Trump

Committee approves articles of impeachment against Donald Trump

Wetherspoons boss £44m richer after election result

Wetherspoons boss £44m richer after election result

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Address

TLE,
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: jack@thelondoneconomic.com

Commercial enquiries, please contact: advertise@thelondoneconomic.com

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech & Auto
  • About TLE
  • Meet the Team
  • Privacy policy

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.