This image is too tragic for words. A father and his small daughter lying facedown in the waters of the Rio Grande, where an attempted crossing from Mexico into Texas had claimed their lives. Twenty-three-month-old Angie Valeria was tucked into the black T-shirt of her father, Oscar Alberto Martínez, likely to keep her from being swept away, her small arm wrapped around her father's neck for safety.
It's a treacherous journey no human being should feel desperate enough to make, and yet this Salvadoran family undertook it in search of a country that would afford them some basic level of safety and opportunity.
What makes the story even more horrific is that the pair had originally made it safely to the Texas shore. But after Martínez set little Angie on the other side and turned back to help his wife cross, the little girl jumped back in the water to be with her father. CNN reports that as Martínez clung to his daughter, a powerful current pulled them under and they drowned. His wife, Tania, watched from the other side Sunday as the two were swept away. On Monday, their bodies washed up on the shores of the river's Mexican side, across from Brownsville, Texas.
The family had been waiting for an appointment to seek political asylum in the U.S. They had gotten a humanitarian visa from Mexico and spent the past two months there, in temperatures sometimes reaching a sweltering 113 degrees. The river crossing was their last-resort shot at finding relief.
Ports of entry have become a bottleneck for desperate migrants with the surge in asylum seekers over the past several months. The backlog is also due to Trump administration policies making ports of entry less accessible to those seeking asylum. Migrants are increasingly making perilous journeys in order to reach the U.S. where they can turn themselves over to authorities after crossing the border. Immigrant rights advocates are warning that tragic stories like that of Martínez and little Angie will continue to arise based on current U.S. policies and the surge in asylum seekers.
A picture of Oscar Alberto Martínez and Angie Valeria on the shore of the Rio Grande is included below the fold. Warning: It is disturbing.