Photo: Douglas Graham/Getty Images
A top immigration official under PresidentDonald Trumpsaid thenotorious drowning death of a migrant father and his toddler daughterat the U.S.-Mexico border reflected one thing: the father’s poor decision-making.
“No in fact, just the opposite,” Cuccinelli replied.
“The reason we have tragedies like that on the border is because those folks, that father didn’t want to wait to go through the asylum process in the legal fashion, so decided to cross the river,” Cuccinelli said ofÓscar Alberto Martínez Ramírezand his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria, who has also been identified as Angie Valeria.
“And not only [did Ramírez die], but his daughter died tragically as well,” Cuccinelli said on CNN. “Until we fix the attractions in our asylum system, people like that father and that child are going to continue to come through a dangerous trip.”
Advocates argue otherwise, saying the Trump administration’s extreme restrictions on asylum-seekers encourage their desperation.
Ramírez’s relatives have said he left El Salvador with his young family in April seeking more economic opportunity in America. (He had made about $350 in a pizzeria and living outside El Salvador’s capital.)
Ramírez, along with his daughter and wife, reportedly took to the river only after trying to request asylum at a port of entry, though under the Trump administration such requests are heavily “metered,” or restricted. (The official purpose of metering is to prevent overwhelming border resources, thoughthat has been disputed.)
Ramírez and his young daughter’s bodies were found on the banks of the Rio Grande river early Monday after they drowned while trying to cross from Matamoros, Mexico, into Brownsville, Texas.
The image was first published in a Mexican newspaper and then spread around the world.
From left: Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his daughter, Valeria.North Texas Dream Team
Reports differ about whether Ramírez, wife Tania Vanessa Ávalos and Valeria were able to actually meet with anyone about asylum.
According to the Associated Press, citing a Mexican government official, the family went to the U.S. Consulate on Sunday.
But theNew York TimesandWashington Postreported that the family was told the bridge they needed to cross was closed until Monday. (The State Department and Customs and Border Protection declined to comment to PEOPLE.)
Trumpsaid he “hate[d]”the deaths of Ramírez and his daughter while Democratic presidential candidateJulián Castro, a former housing secretary, said Wednesday, “Watching that image of Oscar and his daughter Valeria was heartbreaking. It should also piss us all off.”
Speaking to the AP, his mother said, “I begged them not to go [to America], but he wanted to scrape together money to build a home. They hoped to be there a few years and save up for the house.”
More than 280 people died at the border last year.
source: people.com
