In 2017, there were 11.6 immigrants from Mexico living in the United States, 43% of which were undocumented. In that same year, Mexicans were deported 192,334 times. The people who make up the statistic are often reduced to just that, numbers on a piece of paper. Selena Gomez, the grand-daughter of immigrants from Mexico, used her position to draw attention to the people impacted by policy in an op-ed for Time. "In the 1970s, my aunt crossed the border from Mexico to the United States hidden in the back of a truck. My grandparents followed, and my father was born in Texas soon after," she wrote. "I never forget how blessed I am to have been born in this country thanks to my family and the grace of circumstance. But when I read the news headlines or see debates about immigration rage on social media, I feel afraid for those in similar situations. I feel afraid for my country."
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19 states are suing over 'cruel, inhumane, and illegal' conditions for detained children
The testimonies are jarring.
There is no doubt that the ongoing migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border is a difficult problem to solve. How to handle a large influx of people arriving at our doorstep and how to expediently process increasing asylum claims is a big question with many unclear answers.
But there's one thing we should be crystal clear about. Inhumanity should have no place in our immigration policies, and cruelty toward children should never be tolerated, period. And yet, that's exactly what we are seeing in our detention facilities.
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Standing behind a tree on the sixth hole at Meadowlark Golf Course in Huntington Beach, California, I was in a predicament.
I was about 70 yards from the hole, but there was a large eucalyptus in my way. I grabbed my five wood to take a punch shot to get around the tree and set myself up for a clear route to the green.
"Take your body out of the shot," my friend Eduardo called from the golf cart. "Use your hands."
The punch plunked the ball about 40 yards, stopping in the center of the fairway. I was nicely set up for an easy third shot and, hopefully, par.
This was just one of the easily digestible tips I received that day from my buddy Eduardo Flores, or as I half-jokingly call him, The Best Undocumented Golfer in America.
When the Associated Press published Julia Le Duc's photograph of a drowned Salvadoran man, Óscar Alberto MartÃnez RamÃrez, and his 23-month old daughter Valeria, it sparked outrage on social media. According to Le Duc, RamÃrez had attempted to cross the Rio Grande after realizing he couldn't present himself to U.S. authorities to request asylum.
But beyond raising awareness via Twitter and Facebook feeds, does an image like this one have the power to sway public opinion or spur politicians to take action?
As journalism and psychology scholars interested in the effects of imagery, we study the ability of jarring photos and videos to move people from complacency to action. While graphic imagery can have an immediate impact, the window of action – and caring – is smaller than you'd think.