Shaking photo of drowned refugees | Currently America | '
The photos show a 25-year-old man from El Salvador and his almost two-year-old child. Both lie face down in the waters of the Rio Grande between Mexico and the United States. The bodies were found on Monday in Matamoros, Tamaulipas State, Mexico.
According to Mexican court documents, Óscar R. and his wife Tania A. decided on Sunday to cross the Rio Grande on the Matamaros frontier on their flight to the US, which is considered extremely dangerous. The father was carrying his little daughter Valeria on her back and had lashed her in his T-shirt to secure her in this way. The strong current, however, tore the two away – they drowned in the eyes of the 21-year-old wife and mother.
The border river Rio Grande is not wide on the site of the disaster, but the current is treacherous
The Mexican newspaper "La Jornada" published the photos first. According to the newspaper, the father has dropped off the little girl on the other side of the bank. Then he returned to the Mexican side to get his wife. At that moment, the daughter jumped into the water. The father had still been able to grab them, but both were then carried away by the current, the newspaper quoted the woman. After hours of search, rescue workers would have discovered the bodies around 500 meters away on Monday.
According to the mother of Óscar R., the small family El Salvador had left on April 3. After that they spent two months in the Mexican town of Tapachula on the border with Guatemala. Her son and wife hoped for a better life and wanted to save money on building a house.
The picture is reminiscent of the photo of a three-year-old Syrian refugee boy whose body had been found in late summer 2015 on a beach in Turkey.
More dead near the river
US authorities reported – also on the border river Rio Grande – the finding of other bodies. The four victims on US soil near McAllen, Texas, are said to be a young mother, two babies, and a small boy. They were apparently thirsty.
In Mexico, the government is currently being criticized for its treatment of migrants. President López Obrador is under massive pressure from US President Donald Trump, who called on Mexico to stop migrants on their way to the US and otherwise face punitive tariffs. As a result of a migration agreement with Washington, Mexico sent nearly 15,000 police and soldiers to its northern border to curb unregulated immigration from Central America to the United States.
US Border Systems Against Illegal Immigration (Stock Image)
Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives has voted to release $ 4.5 billion (nearly four billion euros) in aid to migrants on the Mexican border. Democratic House Chair Nancy Pelosi said the money should provide food, clothing, toiletries, medical care, and housing for migrant children.
The majority of republican MPs were against the text. The Senate, controlled by US President Donald Trump's republic, plans to present its own text on aid this week. In the House of Representatives, the opposition Democrats have the majority.
Recently, reports of catastrophic conditions in a refugee camp for under-aged immigrants in Texas had brought severe criticism. Human rights activists, doctors and lawyers complained, among other things, about the lack of hygiene in the overcrowded facility in Clint. On Tuesday, Acting Chief of the US Customs and Border Guard (CBP), John Sanders, announced his resignation after just two months in office.
ust / mak (dpa, afp, kna, ap)
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