Time magazine's new cover is a chilling representation of Trump's border policy.
Trump may have signed an executive order, but the crisis he created is far from over.
The cover of Time magazine's new issue is horrifying — and, sadly, justified.
An edited image of Trump stands on the right side and gazes down, expressionless, at a terrorized migrant girl, whose photo went viral after her mother was stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border earlier this week.
"Welcome to America," the chilling cover reads.
The cover poses a sincere question to every reader: What kind of country are we?
It's a question many Americans are wrestling with.
After facing intense backlash for enforcing a "zero tolerance" border policy, the president signed an executive order to end the humanitarian crisis his administration created. The policy, deemed unnecessarily cruel to a wide majority of Americans, separated children — including toddlers and infants — from their migrant parents at America's southern border. Children were placed in facilities many have compared to prisons and internment camps. Many were placed into cages.
Photo by John Moore/Getty Images.
Now, thousands of children have been left separated from their parents. And, at the time of publication, the Trump administration has no coherent plans to reunite the families it tore apart.
These families are desperate asylum seekers fleeing violence in Central America — including the mother of the small child on Time's new cover.
The teary-eyed girl in pink is a 2-year-old from Honduras who's experienced a heartbreaking amount of trauma.
Photo by John Moore/Getty Images.
"The mother told me they had been traveling for a full month and were exhausted," says photographer John Moore, who captured the photo for Getty. "They were taken into custody with a group of about 20 immigrants, mostly women and children, at about 11 p.m."
The girl and her mother were stopped near the Rio Grande River in Texas. They'd traveled 1,500 miles in an attempt to find safety in America.
"I took only a few photographs and was almost overcome with emotion myself," Moore said of the experience.
"Then, very quickly, they were in the van, and I stopped to take a few deep breaths."
Photo by John Moore/Getty Images.
While Trump caved to political pressures and ended his policy separating families, the larger story is just beginning.
These kids — and their parents — desperately need our help. They need to be reunited, and they need the financial help to do it.
Learn more about ways you can help asylum-seeking families like this one.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."