Acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli said Thursday his administration was not responsible for the drowning of a migrant father and daughter whose bodies were photographed after attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
When CNN’s Erin Burnett asked Mr. Cuccinelli whether the photo would become a symbol of the Trump administration’s handling of immigration, he replied, “no, in fact, just the opposite.”
He instead blamed the father, Oscar Alberto Martínez, for his and his daughter’s, 23-month-old Angie Valeria’s, due to his impatience and wanting to get ahead of the system.
“The reason we have tragedies like that on the border is because those folks, that father didn’t want to wait to go through the asylum process in the legal fashion, so decided to cross the river,” Mr. Cuccinelli said.
“And not only died, but his daughter died tragically as well. Until we fix the attractions in our asylum system, people like that father and that child are going to continue to come through a dangerous trip,” he added.
Mr. Cuccinelli claimed cartels are using “the border as essentially a toll booth” and added asylum needs to look less enticing.
“They’re paying to get through, so let’s not kid ourselves about how dangerous a trip that our laws as they stand now are attracting these people into. And that tragedy will only end when Congress finally fixes these loopholes,” he said.
Mr. Cuccinelli was named acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services earlier this month.
Tania Ávalos, Oscar’s wife and Angie Valeria’s mother, told the Mexican newspaper La Jornada they had been in a Matamoros, Mexico migrant camp since Sunday, and planned to apply for asylum, but triple-digit temperatures and lack of food made the family increasingly desperate.
Additionally, La Jornada reported 2000 migrants had been waiting to be granted asylum at the end of May, where on average three appointments were granted a week.
Ms. Ávalos told The Associated Press they were requesting asylum for economic reasons and better jobs, typically not a valid reason to receive U.S. asylum.
The father and daughter, from El Salvador, made it across the Rio Grande originally. But when Mr. Martínez headed back across for Ms. Ávalos, the girl jumped in after her father and they were both swept away. Their bodies were recovered Monday.
• Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.
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