60 Minutes: A widow recalls how her husband and daughter drowned in the Rio Grande

60 Minutes follows up on a major immigration news story last summer and an image of desperation was captured on the bank of the Rio Grande. The photo showed a father and his 23-month-old daughter, facedown in the muddy river. The two drowned trying to come to the United States. The report tells the story behind that photo, including the moment a mother, Tania Avalos, saw her husband and daughter swept away. Last month in El Salvador, Tania told 60 Minutes the story about her family and their journey to the United States.  It is heartbreaking:

“Oscar and Valeria’s bodies were discovered the next morning, washed up on the Mexican side of the river. A photographer was there and snapped the now famous photo. Father and daughter in a final embrace.

In the days that followed, the image became a global symbol of the crisis at America’s southern border. It prompted a brief moment of bipartisan reflection for a Congress deadlocked on immigration.

Within a week, Congress did pass an emergency multi-billion dollar package to hire new judges and build facilities to deal with the surge of Central Americans at the U.S. border. Since then, the Congress has not passed any immigration legislation.”

KJ