Heartbreaking photo of crying 2yo captures horror of Trump border policy

The extraordinary picture was taken by John Moore, a Pulitzer Prize winner and Getty photographer.
The extraordinary picture was taken by John Moore, a Pulitzer Prize winner and Getty photographer. Photo credit: Getty

A heart-breaking photo of a two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker crying as her mother is taken into custody has captured the horror of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance policy" towards undocumented immigrants.

The White House announced the policy in April. Any adults who have been referred to Homeland Security for illegal entry into the US now have their children take from them while their cases are adjudicated, a process that can take months or years.

The extraordinary picture was taken by John Moore, a Pulitzer Prize winner and Getty photographer.

"As a father myself, this photograph was especially difficult for me to take," Mr Moore said on Instagram.

"The mother told me they had been traveling for a full month and were exhausted."

The woman and her daughter had just crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico and were being transported to a US Customs and Border Protection processing centre.

"She was told to set the child down while she was searched. The little girl immediately started crying," Mr Moore told Getty photography website Foto.

"I took only a few photographs and was almost overcome with emotion myself. Then very quickly, they were in the van, and I stopped to take a few deep breaths."

He said the woman and her daughter were taken into custody with a group of about 20 others, mostly women and children.

"I could see on their faces that they had no idea what was about to happen.

"I doubt many of these families knew about the Trump administration's recent policy on separating parents from children at the border."

Mr Moore then discussed his experience trying to calm another Honduran child, a terrified 10-year-old boy with special needs.

"I told him something that was natural to say in the moment, but that I immediately regretted.

"'No te preocupas, todo va a estar bien,' I said. I told him not to worry, everything will be alright. I really wish I hadn't said that, because I'm not sure it's true."

US officials have confirmed that over a six-week period, 1995 children were separated from their parents or legal guardians under its new 'zero tolerance' immigration policy.

That number equates to 46 children a day.

US President Donald Trump has claimed the family separations are the fault of the opposition Democrats. Numerous news outlets in the US have called this false, including CNN, the New York Times and Pulitzer-winning fact-checking site Politifact.

Newshub.