Warning: This article contains graphic content.MEXICO CITY - The man and his 23-month-old daughter lay face down in shallow water along the bank of the Rio Grande, his black shirt hiked up to his chest with the girl tucked inside. Her arm was draped around his neck suggesting she clung to him in her final moments.The searing photograph of the sad discovery of their bodies on Monday, captured by journalist Julia Le Duc and published by Mexican newspaper La Jornada, highlights the perils faced by mostly Central American migrants fleeing violence and poverty and hoping for asylum in the United States.According to Le Duc´s reporting for La Jornada, Ăscar Alberto MartĂnez RamĂrez, frustrated because the family from El Salvador was unable to present themselves to U.S. authorities and request asylum, swam across the river on Sunday with his daughter, Valeria.He set her on the U.S. bank of the river and started back for his wife, Tania Vanessa Ăvalos, but seeing him move away the girl threw herself into the waters. MartĂnez returned and was able to grab Valeria, but the current swept them both away.The account was based on remarks by Ăvalos to police at the scene - `amid tears` and `screams` - Le Duc told The Associated Press.Details of the incident were confirmed Tuesday by a Tamaulipas state government official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, and by MartĂnez´s mother back in El Salvador, Rosa RamĂrez, who spoke with her daughter-in-law by phone afterward.`When the girl jumped in is when he tried to reach her, but when he tried to grab the girl, he went in further ... and he couldn´t get out,` RamĂrez told the AP. `He put her in his shirt, and I imagine he told himself, `I´ve come this far´ and decided to go with her.`From the scorching Sonoran Desert to the fast-moving Rio Grande, the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border has long been an at times deadly c ...
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