In June, it was reported that 2,342 children since May had been separated from their families upon crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. This resulted from the "zero-tolerance" policy that President Trump enacted in April, which stated that all adults entering the country illegally would be prosecuted, and families would be separated. According to Google Trends data, public attention in the U.S. spiked about this issue around June 17. Just three days later, Trump signed an executive order to keep families together. In the photo essay below, I chose to represent this issue to showcase how powerful images were in shaping public opinion and bringing light to a problem in the U.S. that many believed crossed moral boundaries. I personally felt like I did not know the extent of the issues at the border until I was exposed to these visuals.
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| Migrant children in a detention camp at the U.S.-Mexico border. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2018/jun/22/us-family-separation-crisis-in-pictures |
This photograph depicts the way the tent encampments are set up at the U.S.-Mexico border. In the photograph, children are walking in a single-file line, indicating that this camp is specifically where children stay, away from their families. As this photo is taken from a "bird's-eye view," it provides a more comprehensive representation of the size of these camps. The framing of the photo is effective, as we can see both the affected children and the location to which they were displaced. Potentially, it could have been even more informative if the picture were zoomed out more to provide macro information of how many tents were set up; this would allow the reader to infer, based on a visual scale, how many children were affected by the family separation policy.
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| Shared by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, this picture depicts the conditions inside of a processing center in McAllen, Texas. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2018/jun/22/us-family-separation-crisis-in-pictures |
This photograph provides us the ability to see what it looks like inside of a processing center, which holds children once their parents have been prosecuted and they are detained. This photo represents what the conditions are like for the children. The children are surrounded by metal fencing, and are given small foam pads and foil blankets. The framing of the photo is effective, as it allows the public to see how many children are kept together in a small area with limited resources. The framing of the photo also shows a patrol agent, indicating the serious environment the children are kept in. While this photo is telling, it is also important to consider that the public often viewed this center as their long-term housing. It is actually illegal to keep children in these centers for more than three days, and they should be transferred to shelters according to the law.
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| A 2-year old migrant from Honduras cries as her mother is being searched. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2018/jun/22/us-family-separation-crisis-in-pictures |
The photograph above shows a young child from Honduras at the U.S.-Mexico Border. The photo depicts the emotional state of a child who has to be confronted by a patrol agent, and faced with the prospect that she will be separated from her mother. This photo brings a level of realness to the issue at hand, and shows the public what it is like for a child to go through this experience. According to the Texas Civil Rights Project, many parents stated that they were not given any information about where their children would go when they were separated, and in some cases the children were told they would be getting a bath. The framing of the photo is effective, as it focuses on the impacts of the issue on the child, while also depicting the situation surrounding her (her mother being searched by the patrol agent). It is important to consider that many photos were of young children, but there are also older children and adolescents who had to experience these issues as well.
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| A child's drawing inside a shelter, titled "Sad. Disappointed." Source: https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/inside-migrant-shelters-us-mexico-border/34563 |
The above photograph was taken inside of a shelter for children. It appears to be a drawing of the child's family, including his mother and father, with a title in Spanish that translates to "Sad. Disappointed." These emotions are contrasted with the smiles that he drew on people's faces. This gives further insight to the emotional state of a child who is separated from his family. The framing of the photo is effective, as it centers around a drawing which shows the importance of family. It would also be interesting to see what the drawings surrounding this one depicted.
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| Children protest U.S. immigration policies in Mexico City. Source: https://thinkprogress.org/donald-trump-family-separation-policy-ice-immigration-tornillo-texas-detention-center-9a374e994222/ |
Lastly, this photograph shows a group of children together protesting U.S. immigration policies. The picture posted next to the children parodies the "I really don't care, do you?" jacket that First Lady Melania Trump was wearing during this time period. The framing of this photo depicts the children in a way that they are restricted by the bars and wanting freedom. A zoomed out version of this photo would be helpful, to see why some of the children are pointing or smiling. The fact that the subjects of the photo are only children emphasizes that the immigration issue was centered around the children involved.
Concluding Thoughts
Overall, these specific images were chosen because I wanted to tell the narrative of U.S. immigration issues from the children's perspective. Thus, I wanted to show where children were detained, what their emotional state was like under these conditions, and why many children were protesting in Mexico. The arrangement of the photos goes from a macro level -- the location of the children and their living quarters -- to a micro level, depicting the individual feelings of children. If a different arrangement were chosen, the children could be seen in a different light. For example, if the photo collection started with the protests, the public may be more likely to view the children negatively, versus first seeing the conditions that led to the children's protests. An ethical concern that could be brought up is that the collection of these images could be seen as one-sided regarding the issue. For example, many people believe politically that these practices were not unfair as these individuals crossed the border illegally. These people's perspectives were not depicted, and thus showcasing the emotional pictures could be seen as a biased perspective on the immigration issue.
Additionally, it is interesting to note that family separation of immigrants has happened numerous times in U.S. history, including during the Great Depression, World War II, as well as recently in 2014. However, four years ago public reception was a lot different; in 2014, many of the unaccompanied minors were older children, and were much more likely to be associated with criminal stereotypes. This year, the plethora of images of young, distraught children brought an emotional public response and resulted in some level of policy change. This illustrates the impact of visual reporting. Through images, media sources are able to utilize visual framing to depict social narratives (Coombs). Thus, it is important to keep in mind that in today's image-saturated environment, the images which are chosen and the arrangement of these images can be very powerful in evoking responses from the audience. Moving forward, I think that with the increasing patterns of digitization in the media, using visuals to report news will become increasingly popular. Whereas in the past, professional photographers were tasked with capturing still images to tell stories, photography now has become truly democratic (Jeffries). Thus, visual reporting will be in the hands of more citizen journalists, who can potentially impact the trajectory of public opinion and policy.
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https://www.npr.org/2018/06/19/621065383/what-we-know-family-separation-and-zero-tolerance-at-the-border
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/06/27/immigrant-children-family-separation-border-timeline/734014002/
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/08/us-immigration-policy-has-traumatized-children-for-nearly-100-years/567479/
https://haydencoombs.wordpress.com/2016/04/23/visual-framing/
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/dec/13/death-of-photography-camera-phones
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