A grim border drowning underlines peril facing many migrants

MEXICO CITY, June 26 (AP): 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, Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez, 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 US bank of the river and started back for his wife, Tania Vanessa Ávalos, but seeing him move away the girl threw herself into the waters. Martínez returned and was able to grab Valeria, but the current swept them both away.
The account was based on remarks by Ávalos 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 Martínez's mother back in El Salvador, Rosa Ramírez, who spoke with her daughter-in-law by phone afterward.
Meanwhile another report by BBC adds: Democrats in the US House of Representatives have approved $4.5bn (£3.5bn) in humanitarian aid for the southern border.
Several migrant deaths, coupled with reports of "severely neglected" children at a Texan border patrol station, have helped shape the debate.
But the bill faces a tough path through the Republican-controlled Senate.
It is considering a rival bill with fewer restrictions on how border agencies can spend the money.