Central American migrant families arrive at a Catholic Charities respite center after being released from federal detention in McAllen, Texas (Loren ELLIOTT)

Washington (AFP) – A heart-rending photograph of a Salvadoran man and his nearly two-year-old daughter drowned in the Rio Grande River fueled angry denunciations on Wednesday of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

“Trump is responsible for these deaths,” said Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman who is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

“As his administration refuses to follow our laws — preventing refugees from presenting themselves for asylum at our ports of entry — they cause families to cross between ports, ensuring greater suffering & death,” O’Rourke said in a tweet.

According to the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, the intertwined bodies in the photo are those of asylum-seeker Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez, 26, and his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria.

They drowned on Sunday while trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas from Mexico, La Jornada said.

For many, the photo evoked memories of a 2015 picture of a Syrian toddler drowned on a Turkish beach after a failed attempt to reach Greece.

“These families seeking asylum are often fleeing extreme violence,” said California Senator Kamala Harris, who is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

“And what happens when they arrive?” Harris asked on Twitter. “Trump says ‘Go back to where you came from.’ That is inhumane. Children are dying. This is a stain on our moral conscience.”

Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic member of the US House of Representatives from Michigan who has called for Trump’s impeachment, also had harsh words for the president and his hard-line immigration policies.

“This monster and his heartless Administration must be held accountable,” Tlaib said in a tweet. 

The New York Times published the photo on its front page and devoted an editorial to the picture.

“The United States needs an immigration policy that combines border security, justice and humanity,” the Times said.

“No one with a conscience can look at the photo of an asylum seeker and his 23-month-old daughter lying dead on the bank of the Rio Grande and accept the status quo.”

– Pope saddened by deaths –

Among those who also reacted to the photo was Pope Francis.

“The Pope is profoundly saddened by their death, and is praying for them and for all migrants who have lost their lives while seeking to flee war and misery,” said Alessandro Gisotti, a Vatican spokesman.

Joaquin Castro, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from Texas, compared the picture to that of the Syrian toddler.

“It’s very hard to see that photograph,” the New York Times quoted Castro as saying. “It’s our version of the Syrian photograph — of the 3-year-old boy on the beach, dead. That’s what it is.”

Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York displayed the picture on the Senate floor during a speech on Wednesday.

“How could President Trump look at this picture and not understand that these are human beings fleeing violence and persecution?” Schumer asked.

“We can do something about this if the president would stop playing the political game of blame, blame, blame,” he said.

The photo comes amid a public outcry in the United States over the detention conditions of migrant children following a visit to a Border Patrol center in Clint, Texas, by a group of lawyers and doctors.

“Children at Clint told us they don’t have regular access to showers or clean clothes, with some saying they hadn’t been allowed to bathe over periods of weeks and don’t have regular access to soap,” said Clara Long, a researcher with Human Rights Watch who accompanied the team.

Nearly 250 children were transferred out of Clint on Monday but a Customs and Border Protection official said Tuesday that some 100 were being sent back there.

Trump, asked about conditions at the detention centers on Tuesday, said he was “very concerned.”

Border Patrol officials have said they are being overwhelmed by the numbers of refugees seeking to cross into the United States.

Arrivals of undocumented migrants at the southern US border have surged in recent months, with 144,000 taken into custody in May alone.

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.