Honduran two-year-old girl cries because of Trump’s Border Patrol

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

Photo of 2-year-old girl feeds outrage over US immigration policy

In the United States, criticism is growing against President Trump’s immigration policy. …

And if there is one image that feeds that indignation, it is the above photo by the American photojournalist John Moore. Some American newspapers have published it and the photo is widely shared on social media.

Donald Trump is an animal. https://t.co/kUQi3qbJJF #ICEinTheNews

An early look at Saturday's front… pic.twitter.com/aU0OqAU9uA

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) June 15, 2018

We see a 2-year-old girl from Honduras who looks up cryingly at her mother, who is being arrested by the border police. They were part of a group of about twenty people who had crossed the border with Texas. The border police caught them on 12 June at McAllen.

The US American photographer John Moore was there. He has been working along the Mexican border for ten years. “When the border patrol noted the names of the people, I could see a mother holding a young child. … [The Border Patrol] … asked the mother to set down her daughter. At that moment, the young child broke into tears, and she started wailing. ”

“And I took a knee and had very few frames of that moment before it was over. Almost overwhelmed by emotions, she picked up her daughter, and they were rushed into the van and all taken away.” I had to take a few deep breaths to recover.”

The mother still said that they came from Honduras. They had been on the road for one month and were exhausted. “But as a father – and I have a toddler myself. It was very difficult to see what was happening in front of my lens and thinking what it would be like for my kids to be separated from me”, says Moore. “Because I thought they would be separated quickly. I saw from their faces that they had no idea what would happen to them.”

It is not clear whether this girl has really been separated from her mother. This usually does not happen immediately with the arrest. It happens when the parents are prosecuted because they cross the border illegally. Then they are not allowed to keep their children in prison.

The US government recently introduced a zero tolerance policy. Almost 2,000 children have been separated from their families since April. According to the rules, children under 5 years of age may stay with their parents. But that does not always seem to be the case in practice. Due to language problems or lack of staff in the reception centers it sometimes goes wrong.

Unknown where the girl is

The American BuzzFeed News made inquiries with the American border police last weekend. A spokesperson did not know what had happened to this girl. …

Photographer John Moore also does not know what happened to her. “I would very much like to know. Ever since I took those pictures, I think about that moment often. And it’s emotional for me every time.”

US agents arrive to detain #Immigrant asylum seekers near the US-Mexico border. A Honduran mother with daughter (R), said they’d been traveling a month to reach the US. Trump’s “zero tolerance” #Immigration policy splits families. #gettyimages #undocumented #gettyimagesnews pic.twitter.com/ExVXR3hloA

— John Moore (@jbmoorephoto) June 17, 2018

In Honduras, there was a right-wing military coup deposing the center-left president in 2009. Then President Obama at least verbally condemned that coup; but his then Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton supported it. Ever since, the regime, its death squad supporters and violent drug dealers massively murder pro-democracy activists, environmentalists, indigenous people, teachers, lawyers, feminists, journalists and little girls who complain about bad situations at schools.

BORDER PATROL CHASE ENDS IN DEADLY CRASH At least five people were killed and several others injured when an SUV believed to be carrying undocumented immigrants crashed in southern Texas after being chased by Border Patrol agents. [HuffPost]

PROTESTERS DESCEND ON TEXAS TENT CITY Constructed last week to shelter migrant children, the site became home to a protest Sunday as crowds marched to oppose the separation of immigrant families at the border. [HuffPost]

Fuck you, Melanie. You know damn well your husband can end this immediately…you feckless complicit piece of shit. https://t.co/5NsoFgMuLr

— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) June 17, 2018

Trump under fire after blaming Democrats for child refugee scandal: here.

ALMOST 2,000 children were separated from their families at the US border over six weeks, officials say. Following a Trump administration crackdown on ‘illegal’ border crossings from Mexico, adults are being detained, meaning the children with them are removed from their care. The issue is causing a growing political storm in the US. Last Thursday Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited the Bible to defend the ‘zero tolerance’ approach: here.