America Used to Promote Photojournalism. Now It Bans It.
Julia Le Duc’s photo of a drowned migrant father and his 23-month-old daughter lying face down on the bank of the Rio Grande after trying to cross into the United States doesn’t have a title and may never get one. But Le Duc’s photo, which shows the daughter tucked inside her father’s shirt, is already informing the debate over the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies.
The Trump administration has done its best to make sure photographs are not taken inside immigration detention centers, and the last thing it wanted was a photo as revealing as Le Duc’s.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) displayed a blown-up version of Le Duc’s photo on the Senate floor when he challenged President Trump to change his immigration policy. “President Trump, I want you to look at this photo,” Schumer declared. “These are not drug dealers or vagrants or criminals; they are simply people fleeing a horrible situation.”