The young wife and mother watched helplessly Sunday as currents swept away her husband, Oscar Martinez, and their daughter, Angie Valeria, when the family tried to cross the river to reach Brownsville, Texas.
The image became an instant symbol of the Central American migration crisis and Mexico's recent crackdown on undocumented migrants, under pressure from US President Donald Trump.
Fleeing poverty and brutal gang violence in their downtrodden neighborhood in San Salvador, Avalos and her family had humanitarian visas in Mexico, and had planned to join the long list of migrants waiting to request asylum in the United States. However, after a journey of more than 3,000 kilometers , they found the border post in Matamoros, the Mexican city across from Brownsville, was closed, and decided to cross the river rather than wait.
A friend traveling with them was carrying Avalos across on his back when they saw the river begin to drag her husband and daughter along with it, then suck them under.
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