Time magazine was forced to issue a correction to an article that had a photo which went viral. The media outlet showed a photo of a two-year-old Honduran child crying at the U.S. border. Patrol agents searched her mother earlier this month.
Time claims that the mother and the child were separated after cross the border illegally because of President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy. But the truth that emerged on Thursday indicates that the two were never separated at all and are still together.
The mother had left Honduras without informing her husband. She had previously been deported from the United States in 2013. He reasons for crossing the border seemed to be economic and therefore not qualify her for asylum.
The Time article told the story of how Getty Images photographer John Moore had captured the image. The original version of the Time story, however, had claimed that the child had been removed, screaming from her mother:
“When the officer told the mother to put her child down for the body search, I could see this look in the little girl’s eyes,” Moore told TIME. “As soon as her feet touched the ground she began to scream.”
Moore, a father of three, said his years of experience did not inoculate him from feeling intense emotions as he watched agents carry away the screaming girl. But, he said, he knew he had to keep photographing the scene.
“This one was tough for me. As soon as it was over, they were put into a van. I had to stop and take deep breaths,” he said. “All I wanted to do was pick her up. But I couldn’t.”
But the reissued version of the story now reads:
“When the officer told the mother to put her child down for the body search, I could see this look in the little girl’s eyes,” Moore told TIME. “As soon as her feet touched the ground she began to scream.”
Moore said the girl’s mother had a weariness in her eyes as she was stopped by Border Patrol agents. The father of three said his years of experience did not inoculate him from feeling intense emotions as he watched agents allowed [sic] the mother to pick up her child and loaded them both into a van. But, he said, he knew he had to keep photographing the scene.
“This one was tough for me. As soon as it was over, they were put into a van. I had to stop and take deep breaths,” he said. “All I wanted to do was pick her up. But I couldn’t.”
A correction at the end of the article reads (original emphasis):
Correction: The original version of this story misstated what happened to the girl in the photo after she taken [sic] from the scene. The girl was not carried away screaming by U.S. Border Patrol agents; her mother picked her up and the two were taken away together.
The photograph has been used to raise $18 million through crowdfunding on Facebook for charities working with migrant families in Texas, under the misleading heading: “Reunite an immigrant parent with their child.”
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