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| Valeria Ramirez and her father Oscar. |
Their names are Valeria Ramirez and Gurpreet Kaur. The didn't know each other but their deaths shocked a nation awake to the injustice, abuse and dangers of crossing the Mexico-US border.
Following strict instructions from her father, 2-year-old Valeria's little arms were still clutching her father's neck when her body was found face down in the Rio Grande.
Miles away, The 7-year old Gurpreet dutifully stayed behind to wait for her mother, who reassured her daughter that she would soon be back with water.
Valeria was a cheery child. Not even 2 years old, she loved to dance, play with her stuffed animals and brush her family members’ hair.
Her father, Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez, was stalwart. Nearly always working, he sold his motorcycle and borrowed money to move his family from El Salvador to the United States. Martínez and his wife, Tania Vanessa Ávalos, wanted to save up for a home there. They wanted safety, opportunity.
“They wanted a better future for their girl,” María Estela Ávalos, Vanessa’s mother, told The Washington Post.
The photo of her and her father floating in the Rio Grande shook a nation that had grown hardened by the injustices and barriers placed on immigrants seeking asylum, fleeing the out-of-controlled violence in their home countries.
According to news accounts, Oscar, Tania and Valeria had sought asylum in Mexico City's US Consulate but they were reportedly turned away. They went to the border at Matamoros, Mexico, across the river from Brownsville, Texas. He hoped to ask for asylum there but instead found a line hundreds of people long.
The Trump administration's artificial metering policy is meant to dissuade people like Oscar and Tania from crossing.
There are 2,165 names on the waitlist in Matamoros, while processing has slowed to a trickle: two people one day, a family the day before, nobody at all the two days before that.
Oscar called his mother in El Salvador when they reached the border to reassure her that he and his family were fine.
However, Oscar, increasingly frustrated, impatient and desperate, didn't want to stay in Mexico's side of the border. He heard of the stories of women being raped and men being forced to join gangs. The longer his family stayed there, the more in danger they would become.
He looked at the river that is the border between Mexico and the United States. He thought he could swim the 30 yards to the U.S. He told his toddler to hold onto his neck. As insurance, he tied his t-shirt around her in case she lost her grip. Oscar made the crossing first with his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria, then left her on the riverbank while he returned for his wife. But the frightened little girl plunged into the river after him and as he struggled to save her, they both were carried away by the fast-moving waters.
He didn't expect the current to be so strong. Local authorities say the gentle flow of the river surface hides the strong current underneight. His body and the body of his little girl were found on the US side, both face down. Valeria's arms still around her father's neck, her chubby littl elegs sticking out from under the t-shirt.
* * *
Gurupreet Kaur, traveled from Punjab region of India, with her mother and sister. The family was supposed to meet up with her father who had a job in New York City. Just under 7-years old, she was looking forward to celebrating her seventh birthday with her father.
Its unclear what part of Mexico they began their trip to the border or how they hooked up with the other two women from India and one of whom had her 8-year old daughter with her. Perhaps the group came together across the Pacific.
They paid a large sum of money to coyotes, those human smugglers who supposedly help people into the US illegally. The coyote accompanying the small group left them on the Mexican side of the border and pointed them northward into the harsh dry desert of southern Arizona filled with shrub, cacti and little else.
The group of Indian nationals had no idea what awaited them nor did they know that later that day, the temperature would reach 108 degrees.
“You honestly almost can’t find a more remote area along the Southwest border than where this group crossed,” said Pete Bidegain, a special operations supervisor for the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector.
Its unclear what part of Mexico they began their trip to the border or how they hooked up with the other two women from India and one of whom had her 8-year old daughter with her. Perhaps the group came together across the Pacific.
They paid a large sum of money to coyotes, those human smugglers who supposedly help people into the US illegally. The coyote accompanying the small group left them on the Mexican side of the border and pointed them northward into the harsh dry desert of southern Arizona filled with shrub, cacti and little else.
The group of Indian nationals had no idea what awaited them nor did they know that later that day, the temperature would reach 108 degrees.
“You honestly almost can’t find a more remote area along the Southwest border than where this group crossed,” said Pete Bidegain, a special operations supervisor for the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector.
“Once they walked north, they were out in a real desert area,” Bidegain said. “The little girls started during poorly right off the bat.”
The group decided to split up. Gurupreet’s mom headed away with another woman to search for water, leaving Gurupreet with the other mother and child.
“They were never able to find each other again,” Bidegain said.
The group decided to split up. Gurupreet’s mom headed away with another woman to search for water, leaving Gurupreet with the other mother and child.
“They were never able to find each other again,” Bidegain said.
Gurpreet's parents said in a statement that they were desperate and sought asylum in the United States in the hope of a “safer and better life” for their daughter.
Near a small town, Lukeville, the small group had run out of water. Gupreet was weakened with the lack of water in the heat of the desert. She was weak.
There’s no border wall there — just a series of 3-foot-tall metal poles driven into the ground to block vehicles from crossing.
It wasn’t long before Gurupreet and the other child in the group — an 8-year-old — were struggling.
“Once they walked north, they were out in a real desert area,” Bidegain said. “The little girls started during poorly right off the bat.”
The group decided to split up. Gurupreet’s mom headed away with another woman to search for water, leaving Gurupreet with the other mother and child.
“They were never able to find each other again,” Bidegain said.
A day later, on the morning of June 12, a Border Patrol agent patrolling a path spotted footsteps in the sand. He came upon the two women who’d been searching for water — and learned the rest of their group was missing.
Agents searched the area for hours and found Gurupreet, who had succumbed to heat stroke, according to authorities.
It took them more than a day of additional searching to find the other mother and child she’d been left with. They were taken to a hospital and treated for dehydration. Authorities aren’t sure exactly how the group got separated — or what happened to them in the desert.
Gurupreet’s parents hadn’t seen each other since 2013, about six months after she was born. Now the 33-year-old father and 27-year-old mother are together, planning their daughter’s funeral in New York.
The father has been in the US since 2013 with a pending asylum application before the New York court. Gurpreet’s mother was released from an Arizona Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility on June 18 and allowed to travel by bus to New York. She has been issued a notice to appear before the immigration court in New York, but no dates have been given.
Near a small town, Lukeville, the small group had run out of water. Gupreet was weakened with the lack of water in the heat of the desert. She was weak.
There’s no border wall there — just a series of 3-foot-tall metal poles driven into the ground to block vehicles from crossing.
It wasn’t long before Gurupreet and the other child in the group — an 8-year-old — were struggling.
“Once they walked north, they were out in a real desert area,” Bidegain said. “The little girls started during poorly right off the bat.”
The group decided to split up. Gurupreet’s mom headed away with another woman to search for water, leaving Gurupreet with the other mother and child.
“They were never able to find each other again,” Bidegain said.
A day later, on the morning of June 12, a Border Patrol agent patrolling a path spotted footsteps in the sand. He came upon the two women who’d been searching for water — and learned the rest of their group was missing.
Agents searched the area for hours and found Gurupreet, who had succumbed to heat stroke, according to authorities.
It took them more than a day of additional searching to find the other mother and child she’d been left with. They were taken to a hospital and treated for dehydration. Authorities aren’t sure exactly how the group got separated — or what happened to them in the desert.
Gurupreet’s parents hadn’t seen each other since 2013, about six months after she was born. Now the 33-year-old father and 27-year-old mother are together, planning their daughter’s funeral in New York.
The father has been in the US since 2013 with a pending asylum application before the New York court. Gurpreet’s mother was released from an Arizona Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility on June 18 and allowed to travel by bus to New York. She has been issued a notice to appear before the immigration court in New York, but no dates have been given.
In their statement Monday, the parents asked for privacy and said their family is heartbroken over Gurupreet’s death.
“We wanted a safer and better life for our daughter and we made the extremely difficult decision to seek asylum here in the United States,” said a statement by the girl’s mother, identified as S Kaur, 27, and the father, identified as A Singh, 33. The statement was released by the Sikh Coalition, an organisation that works for the Sikh community in the United States. “We trust that every parent, regardless of origin, colour or creed, will understand that no mother or father ever puts their child in harm’s way unless they are desperate.”
“We will carry the burden of the loss of our beloved Gurupreet for a lifetime,” the statement said, “but we will also continue to hold onto the hope that America remains a compassionate nation grounded in the immigrant ideals that make diversity this nation’s greatest strength.”
In the news coverage of their deaths, the reporters often refer to the bodies of the two girls. They laughed, danced and played make-believe like little girls tend to do. They shared their parents' dream of a new and better life in the United States.
Their names are Valeria Ramirez and Gurupreet Kaur.
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